Sergeant Hall
by ColdAugust
Summary: What if Shepard had a N7 on the Normandy to help complete the mission? What if that N7 was everything Shepard wasn't?
1. Chapter 1

**1/8**

_Hot food, hot showers, one person to a bunk, walks in the country side … if they transferred me to the 212 as a punishment than I'll take another, please, _Hall thought as he toweled off, _the squad they gave me ain't bad either. They should've known giving a N7 any unit would immediately win him respect._  
>Hall put on the new BDUs before going for breakfast, the company he was assigned to was going on patrol later that day and didn't want to waste time with coming back to change.<p>

In the mess hall he filled a plate and made sure to grab some toast, what he couldn't stuff between the two slices of bread he quickly devoured between gulps of coffee. He dumped his tray with all the other dirty trays and left mess while still eating his makeshift sandwich to get to the armory to be suited up as soon as possible.

Marine Standard armor, Marine Standard weapons, an extra pouch of grenades, and a complement of extra gear to carry: Rations, a quick repair kit for the weapons, patches for the armor and a med kit. Hall collects a helmet normally used for deployments in oxygen rich environments that had some poison gas,_ lighter than carrying a tent and works just as well just in case we get stuck out there overnight. _Bao and Rodriguez, the senior two in the squad, come into the armory, Rodriguez telling some hunting story that highlighted how good a shot he is.

"… I swear it was at least 900 yards away! Sure shots at that distance aren't impossible but I did it on a civilian rifle without the targeting assists."

"And you hit it right in the heart," Bao said dryly, clearly bored of hearing this story again.

"Then boom, it fell right over," Hall offered without looking up from securing gear to his armor.

Rodriguez rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah … I take it I've told this story before."

"I think this is the tenth time I've heard it and I've only been in the company two weeks," Hall attached his shotgun to the back of his armor then looked over to the soldiers in his squad and continued, "You two need to get suited up quick, new guy comes in today."

"Aren't we on patrol in an hour?" Bao asked pointedly.

"Yes we are," Hall responded while making for the door, "and in that hour we get a new guy."

**2/8**

Twenty minutes later Hall entered the barracks to collect anyone lagging behind to try to get an early shot at the new guy. Higgins and Mitchel were in the barracks, Mitchel seemed to be milling around like he was looking for something and Higgins was putting on boots in full gear. "The fuck you two?" both jumped up and stood on the line in front of their bunks, Higgins with one boot untied, "you geared up and came back, wandered around bare foot and didn't notice Higgins? Too bad for you, new guy isn't making it today."

"Sergeant, does this mean I'm still the new guy?" Higgins asked.

"You really are a candidate for OCS, Higgins, if you can't figure that out on your own. Thirty seconds and I want both of you outside." Hall stalked off back to the outside.

_Bao, Rodriguez, Mitchel, Higgins and I make up what is a squad on paper and is little more than a large fireteam. Fortunately we're essentially a do nothing unit. _Hall pushed open the door to the outside and wandered over to the assembly area, before he rejoined his squad Mitchel and Higgins ran by and formed up with the other two.

"As you noticed, new guys not here, lucky him gets to miss out on today's stroll in the park." The squad chuckled, "this is not a combat patrol, I want weapons out but safeties ON. We don't need any bad press from accidently shooting some poor farmers kid."

The squad responded, "Hoorah, Sergeant."

"Looks like we're rolling, let's go."

**3/8**

Eden Prime was and is a carefully planned development project. The roads long and straight with little to slow ground traffic down and forests were preserved when possible. The endless fields of crops without a tree in sight was a farming technique left on Sol, those fields let too much wind blow constantly so more trees and large shrubs were planted along roads to cut down on wind and absorb sounds of vehicles, beautiful but a tactical nightmare.

Hall took his squad around the outside of the tree line. The main body of the company walked along the street. This continued until the road entered one of the mentioned forests and what probably saved Hall and his squad from the sudden death of the Geth ambush. Gunfire erupted all along the road side and several explosions went off decimating the company. Hall and his squad weren't even noticed by the Geth until his squad was flanking them with grenades and assault rifle fire. The broke up the ambush while destroying the Geth flank, this caused the Geth to pull back and let the company reorganize. Still under fire the company jump into a dry seasonal creek bed.

"Sure wish we had an orbital platform," Hall said, squatted down behind a rock, while he was waiting on his assault rifle to cool off, "or a million grenades would be cool, too."

"Hall," The lieutenant yelled over the screaming din, "we don't have time for what you wish we had!"  
>Geth fire raked their position; anyone that dared a peek without squeezing a few rounds first would receive concentrated fire.<p>

The lieutenant got a brief message off before getting hit by sniper fire and going down. Someone might have checked him for a pulse or tried to save him if a massive ship had not made a slow atmosphere fall and made a terrible screaming noise as it got ready to touch down on the planet.

**4/8**

The First Sergeant, an older man getting towards the age to retire, wasted no time in taking control of the company. He checked his radio and then the lieutenants radio, both gave him nothing. "Chief, hey, chief!" Ashley Williams rolled out of her cover and over to the First Sergeant, "Comms are down, go find the major and bring me some goddamned help! " The Sergeants attention shifted from the woman to everyone else, "covering fire for the chief on three, two …" he clearly said one but was drowned out by dozens of assault rifles firing at once. Ashley used the opportunity to scramble to her feet and set as much distance between her and the dug in group as she could. Geth attempted to stop the runner but were greeted with concentrated fire from what was left of the company of marines that had dug in a dry creek bed with some more troops behind rocks and downed trees.

"Top Hat, you're ranking now," Hall shouted over to the older man a couple stones over, "The fuck we do now?"

"Williams will be back with reinforcements soon, take your squad over to the right and keep them firing their rifles!"

Hall came back to his squad to see Bao bent over Mitchel. Bao was patching up a wound in Mitchels side before spreading medigel on the wound. Mitchel gave Hall a thumb up before getting up to a kneeling position. "We got the right, pick up your gear and lets move." The four other men picked up whatever they had around them and followed Hall to the right in a bent over run. They sprawled out on a small mound of dirt that accumulated over years of run-off going into the stream when it accepts floodwater. Hundreds and thousands of shots were exchanged and a few attempts to penetrate the lines were made by the Geth, all attempts were repulsed but one thing was certain, the Geth were winning. What the Geth had been doing undeniably was moving to better flanking positions which was spreading the Marines fire thin. _Their stretching us out and getting ready to flank us, _Hall thought when he saw Williams ran back into their defensive perimeter from deeper into the trees. Once totally behind cover after a dive from above on the embankment the First Sergeant said, "have a report for me?"

Between gasping breaths Ashley managed, "Major's… dead… Captain won't… listen... says everyone's… engaged." Ashley sucked in one gigantic breath and seemed to finally have her breath under control as Hall ran over to join in the conversation, "Captain says to hold position and wait for further instruction."

"Top Hat, we're about to be flanked and are in immediate danger of being overrun, we need out now!" Hall said once Ashley finished her report.

The First Sergeant regarded the two younger NCO's and replied, "We hold to keep these, things, here and keep them from harassing the flanks of the other companies and when they can we'll be relieved."  
>Hall blinked at the order and then went back to his position.<p>

**5/8**

"Hey Sarge, how we doin'?"

"Well, Higgins, we're defending this shitty trench and being shot at by robots, how do you think it is?"

"FUBB, we pulling out?"

"I didn't realize we were talking about your girlfriend," Hall responded with a smile which got a few laughs from the handful of other guys still left in the squad.

"Higgins wouldn't know what to do with a woman even if she were willing," someone said from behind a tree.

"Shut up Bao, seriously, we going?"

"We're staying, it seems they want all the shooters up here."

"Even me?" Higgins asked.

"Actually, I need your weapon" Hall laughed.

"That's cold, sarge," Rodriguez said, peeking out from behind a rock.

A few more laughs were had then Hall spoke, "Coffee break is over. Forget all that shit, keep your rifles pointed downfield and we'll get through this, remember what I showed you and make me proud."  
>In chorus the squad responded "Hoorah"<p>

**6/8**

A few more minutes of set lines and exchanges of fire passed and Hall decided to press his concern, "Top Hat, their fire was left front and right, now it's just left and front."

"So?"

"Either they're losing numbers or they're massing to attack."

"Cut your paranoid N7 bullshit, Hall."

"Fuck you, it's happening. Let me pull out my Squad and we'll take up position on the rise."

"What rise?" Hall pulls out a map and points to a 15 meter rise upstream of the dry creek bed. "Denied, we need as many bodies as we can get here."

"We'll be able to provide sniper support and covering fire if you need to pull out"

"Denied, Hall" Then, as predicted, a company of Geth pour out of the tall grass and charged the flank of the human position. _Wouldn't have mattered now, anyway,_Hall thought as he scrambled to his feet to get back to his Squad. "Rodriguez, Bao, Mitchel, shift your fire right, Higgins, watch the left and let me know when something moves."

"Left, sarge?"

"Yes, fucking left" Hall shouted over the rattle of fire, "It'll come soon so just let me know!" Hall focused his attention to the diversion and tried to take as many geth down as possible with his sniper rifle.

Soon the entire Marine Company is firing towards the Geth on the right except for Higgins who watched the left. Higgins soon started seeing lights in the tall weeds moving up on the left, "Hey Sarge, I'm seeing lights off on the left."

"You sure Higgins?"

"Yeah you can see…"

Hall cut him off, "Rodriguez, switch to your sniper and come over here, Higgins, replace him and start covering right."

The two men switched positions and Rodriguez pulled his rifle out, "I need you to shoot at the lights over on the left," Hall told him.

"Isn't that a violation of fire control?" Rodriguez, being a good soldier, asked because they were the unit all the way to the right which meant their zone was the right flank, never mind that the rest of the company had abandoned protocol about fifteen minutes ago.

"Yes it is, forget the rule and if you aren't a goddamn hero after this you can say I gave you the order." Rodriguez shrugged and started scoping the left flank.

Rodriguez started shooting within seconds of getting on scope. Hall spared a glance to see a Geth flail from its circuits frying before he returned his attention to firing at the obvious targets to make the Geth pay as much as possible for the diversion.

**7/8**

_One down . . . Two down . . . Three down . . ._Hall slipped into a rhythm to keep a constant rate of fire without overheating his rifle. At somewhere in the early teens he heard incoming sniper fire from the left. "Rodriguez, do you wanna take care of that," Hall turned, Rodriguez was missing half of his face, clearly the target of the incoming fire, "shit, Bao, replace Rodriguez."

Bao wordlessly shifted his fire and started shooting.

Two shots in a Geth Drop ship drifted over head for a moment to drop an armature unit right in front of the embattled Marines. It set itself up and started firing its machine gun into the center and quickly followed with a siege pulse which laid waste to the center of the line. "Squad, grenades on the big thing," All four of them pulled out grenades, activated them and threw them once Hall shouted, "Now!" The grenades all found their mark and brought down the shield of the Armature but also pulled its attention towards them. "Everyone down!" Hall yelled as machine gun fire rattled over their position. "One more round of grenades and then belly crawl back into the creek bed. Grenades, now!" All four popped up and threw grenades in the brief break in machine gun fire. Their grenades sailed past the Armatures siege pulse, Mitchel caught the direct blast of the siege pulse, half of him incinerated immediately and the rest of the explosion took Baos arm and ripped open his stomach muscles while throwing him ten feet, trailing blood and intestines. Higgins and Hall were tossed into the creek bed.  
>Hall patted himself down for wetspots, found none and threw up once he realized he was still alive after almost being blown up. Higgins belly crawled with one arm, his other arm dragged behind him, very apparently broken in several places. Hall rolled Higgins over his good arm which left the broken one across his chest. "Higgins, now you're completely useless to me now," Hall jested before taking the look of a concerned father, "does it hurt?"<p>

"It's fine, I only realized it was broken when I tried to crawl with it."

"Shit, Higgins, I'm sending you as a runner and once you've completed this mission I want you to find a medic for yourself."

"What's the message?"

Hall thought for a moment and said, "212 overrun and destroyed." Hall helped Higgins to his feet only to see Higgins get near cut in half from machine gun fire from a crippled but still dangerous Armature unit. Higgins fell in a bloody heap and was gone before Hall had his med kit out. Hall sat down next to Higgins put his elbows on his knees and covered his face.

Hall uncovered his face when he heard someone crawling up the creek bed toward him. He looked over and saw Gunnery Chief Williams crawling over. "Chief, I'm all that's left of my squad."

"Hall, that makes you all that's left of the company," she managed a tough tone despite being in command of a two man company.

"We're overrun and lost, we should get you out of here"

"I'm not leaving you behind to die," Williams responded quickly.

"Who said anything about dying? I'll cover your retreat for thirty seconds and pull the heat, I've got all the escape and evasion know-how you don't," Hall smiled while putting on the helmet that he'd been carrying, "See you on the other side chief, they've got to have figured out we're done by now and scouts are on their way. No time to argue." Hall picked up his assault rifle, stood and started firing bursts at the scouts that were in the open. He strafed along until the rifle need to cool down and then threw a grenade at what was left of the armature. He ducked down and looked to see if Williams was running or not and saw that she was long gone. He popped back up and resumed firing. Suddenly he felt a sharp prick on his chest and the armor on his back shift. He looked down to see blood running from a two millimeter hole in his armor on the left side. He took a knee and realized he was having trouble with breathing despite the filtration system. Geth fire was tearing at the lip of the creek bed so he belly crawled back to his original position while the Geth were rediscovering that the unit was combat ineffective. _I'm not going to escape while lung-shot,_ Hall grimly thought, _at least when they send someone to look for all the dead Marines they'll find my corpse among them._He thought about calling Williams on the radio, to give her the sitrep, but decided against it in case she decided to come back for him.

**8/8**

He lay down by the other dead Marines and waited quietly to join them. The had one last bloodfilled laugh at something that occurred to him, _New guy will be telling the story of how a flight delay made him miss the massacre of the 212._


	2. Chapter 2

**1/5**

Hall stood in the debriefing room, he scratched at his freshly shaved scalp by the Mohawk that he had left behind. Right now he was on the" most advanced starship ever built" and he couldn't say that he was impressed, it was the latest twist on the oldest principles of warfare: secrecy. Apparently the captain had requested his transfer once it was known his unit was wiped out. Unfortunately, that captain had lost this command just before Hall put his boots down on the Citadel.

The doors opened and Shepard, the poster child for success in Special Forces, stalked into the room. "I want you to know I didn't request your transfer, Hall," she said, "You're insubordinate, a loose cannon and a remorseless killing machine."

Hall squeezed the bit of tobacco against his teeth to get a quick bit of nicotine before speaking, "I missed you, too," he said, clearly trying to antagonize her.

"Shut up, Hall, I'm your commanding officer."

He rolled his eyes and continued to speak out of turn, one of his many traits that got him transferred to the 212, "if you really don't like me so much, leave me here or transfer me. I'm not going to tip toe around and you know you can't intimidate me into being like you."

She glared at him for a moment before continuing, "I would consider those things except I think we're on the one mission you were born to be useful on." Hall, with a dumbstruck look on his face, stared at Shepard and waited for her to continue rather than cut in. "We're chasing after a rogue Spectre which has years of field experience and is known for his cruelty. I expect we'll be fighting unimaginable odds with only a couple fire teams and this ship. That means if you can ignore the sirens call and recognize just a handful of faces as friendlies you can shoot anything and everything you want **once the shooting starts**," she put extra emphasis on the last four words.

He worked over the chew and responded, "sounds like fun, when do we start?"

"You don't start until you agree to keep your finger off the trigger until I say you can."

"It's been five years since that friendly fire incident, C_ommander_, and that was ruled an accident," Hall smiled, Shepard gave him a sharp look, "finger off the trigger until you say so. Anything else?"

"Yeah, you shoot anyone you're not supposed you I'm leaving you on the next black rock I find. I'm a spectre now and wouldn't have to answer to anyone about it."

Hall laughed at that, "That's not your style; you'd rather the high-noon quickest on the draw showdown before you'd leave anyone behind like that."

"Get out and stow your gear, I'm sure we'll find some dark corner to dump you in. Try not to make any enemies."

**2/5**

Hall picked up his bag and left the debriefing room and found his way to the mess. He sat down at the table and pulled a bottle of whiskey out and set it on the table in front of him before getting a cup with ice. He was four cups in before the man that had been working at a console came over. Hall glanced at the man's collar to see he was a staff lieutenant before indulging in another swallow of chilled whiskey. "That help?" he asked.

"Help what?" Hall asked back.

"I just thought …" Hall was surprised the Lieutenant wasn't already threatening him, "You're working at it pretty hard." Hall just stared at him with a semi annoyed look on his face. "What's your name Marine?"

"Sergeant Brian Hall, LT, lets skip the part where you try to be my friend than read my file which will change your mind about winning me over. I'm a sign that this mission is going to kill people, maybe all of us." Hall went back to drinking.

"What's your problem, Hall?"

Between sips Hall said, "Read my file."

The Lieutenant went back to his console and ignored Hall, Hall gladly ignored him back. Ten glasses in Hall corked the bottle, put it back in his bag and went to find an empty bunk.

**3/5**

"You were the only other survivor of the 212" The Lieutenant from yesterday spoke as Hall stepped from his bunk.

Hall stopped and looked at the other man, "What's your name LT?"

"Alenko"

"Well, Alenko, is that all?"

"You've had a varied career, you've been passed for promotion so many times that Shepard is now a commander and you're a Sergeant despite having been in the same graduating class."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

"I don't know."

"Did you not get to the court martial for shooting an officer? That's really the best part."

"It was ruled an accident" Hall smiled at that response, he then collected a ration and went to the ramp once Alenko left the conversation at that.

**4/5**

Hall walked in the CIC and didn't see Shepard anywhere so then went back down the ramp and into the elevator. He had finished most of the flavorless nutrition of the MRE once the doors opened. He walked into the hold and found Shepard talking to a Turian. He thought about interrupting but then saw Williams and decided that talking to her would be the better overall plan. He crept over and jumped onto the table, landing in a sitting position. "What the f …" Williams stopped once she realized who has so rudely interrupted her work, "You're alive," she said in a mix of shock and disbelief.

"Yes I am."

"They said you were on an operating table, weren't going to make it."

"I was and I almost didn't. I'm a 'modern medical miracle' is what the surgeon called me. I got a pretty cool scar from where they opened me up," Hall said, rubbing the scar under his uniform, "the lung was too badly damaged and my heart was getting ready to give up. Fortunately mechanical hearts and lungs were perfected a hundred years ago and well before medigel else I'd probably be a corpse. The first surgeon just stitched it back together and pumped me full of medigel which I ended up almost drowning in that while my heart tried to explode then an older doctor had a different idea and went with the "outdated" practice of synthetic replacement."

"So does that mean …" Williams started.

"… that I don't have a heartbeat?" Hall finished, "I don't, it's a heart whirrrr now."

Hall smiled at his attempt to be silly and Williams laughed once. Hall hopped off the table and saluted as Shepard walked over to the two of them, Williams joined him in the salute. "I missed the joke, what was funny?" Shepard asked.

"That I keep not dying despite so many attempts for the otherwise," Hall said to continue his regular attempts to antagonize the Commander.

Shepard frowned and said, "Can I have a word, Sergeant?" She then took a step away from Williams and waited for him to follow, which he did. "Is this why you have gone down the command chain rather than up, you have to aggravate your commanding officer until all they want is to get rid of you?"

Hall assumed a position of standing at attention, he'd been through hundreds of these conversations in his time and prepared himself for another, though this one came much quicker than the others, "I don't know, Commander."

Shepard made a quick dismissive gesture with her hand while she said, "I didn't say to stand at attention, you're not being court-martialed, we are having an informal conversation." Hall softened his stance and started following the commander with his eyes rather than staring off into space. "We don't have to fight our way through this deployment, I'm not asking you to change, and I'm just asking you to not expect me to be out to get you."

"Seems to me you were threatening to leave me on a black rock less than 24 hours ago."

"I was out of line," Hall scoffed at that statement, "Hall, you're the black sheep of spec ops, the guy no one wants to work with and apparently a magnet for trouble since they put you in the most rear position the can find for you and two weeks later the worst loss of life in military action since the first contact war happens to your unit. I was stressed and not ready to deal with you, just now seeing you smiling and joking with Williams reminded me that you're just a soldier like everyone else and that I had been unfair to you. I'm sorry, can we start over?"

She offered him a hand to shake. Hall cautiously reached out and shook her hand which made Shepard smile. "We can start over."

"Where can we put you that you'll be comfortable?"

"I see that Williams has already taken over the armory, the position that is officially open is probably working on the Mako but I see you have a Turian working on that," Hall stopped and drew in a breath while thinking of where else is an easy fit for him.

"If you don't mind working with a Turian, his name is Garrus Vakarian, then we can put you there. This is an alliance ship, after all."

"Never had a problem with any species, just members in them."

"Let's go meet him then" Shepard walked over to Garrus with Hall in tow, "Hall, this is Garrus Vakarian, he was a detective on the citadel. Sergeant Hall transferred onto the ship yesterday."

"I was investigating Saren," Garrus offered his hand in the Human tradition, "that is what brought me to the commander."

Hall shook the hand Garrus offered, "The previous captain requested me by name for this ship before the Alliance took it from him."

"That must have been quite the honor," Garrus said.

"I suppose it is," Hall responded flatly, "probably the first time my name has been associated with a positive request in a decade."

"Hall is going to be working on the Mako," Shepard took a step away; "I'll leave you two to discuss how to divide the work on it." When there was no objection she went over to Williams.

"So, Vakarian, I'm going work on the guns."

**5/5**

Hall sat on the Mako, he had disassembled the autoloader for the cannon and was polishing and oiling them to smooth perfection. Shepard was making her daily rounds; Hall paid her no mind while he busied himself about his chosen job. "Hall, I need this thing operational in twelve hours and I need you suited up at the same time." Hall assembled the part of the autoloader he had taken apart. "Did you hear me Hall?"

He put the last piece in place and closed up the armor plate and hand tightened the screws. "I did, I'm about thirty seconds away from completing half of your requests." Once the screws were in place a few turns on each with a screwdriver had the plating secure. He slid off the Mako and landed on his feet. "You want me suited up?"

"We're landing on Feros, word is there's Geth there."

"It's a colony and there's bound to be civvies about."

Shepard gave him an annoyed look, "Your shooting scores are regularly perfect or near perfect, just shoot around anything without a flashlight head." She turned and left.

_I wonder what it's like to be the poster child, the one that does everything right no matter what because even when you fuck up someone is there making excuses for you. _He wiped the grease that was still clinging to his fingers; _I doubt she could hack it as me._


	3. Chapter 3

**1/7**

"You and the Commander seem to be getting along better" Williams said while Hall pulled his gear on.

"Give it time, Chief, Shepard will drop the act and try to get rid of me."

"I don't know, she's pretty determined to give everyone a second chance and it's past time you got yours," Williams said in a reassuring manner while assembling a rifle.

"You don't know what I deserve," Hall said with an edge in his voice.

"Calm down, I just meant you got me out of a tight spot."

"I got the commanding officer out of a tight spot."

Williams set down the partially assembled rifle, "We both know that's bullshit, you're not the sort that would give two shits about protocol; if I'd been the LT you'd have left me in that trench to rot and saved yourself."

"Maybe I just didn't want another court-martial," Hall responded evasively.

"Have it your way, Hall," Williams continued assembling the rifle in silence. Hall finished suiting up and went to the elevator. Hall walked past the CIC and sat on the floor by the decontamination area. He was well into his third weapon check when Shepard showed up with Garrus. Hall pushed himself to a standing position and yawned deliberately to indicate his boredom. Shepard got his meaning, Garrus did not. She shook her head at Hall before she to speak with Joker about how much longer it would be.

**2/7**

The Normandy settled to a stop in the dock, Shepard rejoined them and led the way. "This is going to be so boring," Hall said in decontamination.

"Decontamination isn't meant to be exciting," Garrus responded.

"Not decon, this mission. Wander around and look for flashlight heads, find out the locals were jumping at nothing because Feros is so weird and make it back in time for drinks … if we're lucky." The door slid open to the outside.

"Stow it, Hall," Shepard said with Hall mouthing the words, being that he was behind her she didn't see it but Garrus did. His mandibles flicked once but he said nothing. Hall zoned out and followed the Commander who spoke to a colonist, Hall was only vaguely aware the conversation and the colonists demands that they go see someone named 'Fai Dan' immediately when Hall noticed the Geth, too slow to save the colonist but fast enough that he charged past the Commander with his assault rifle folded open and spitting death as she realized that they were under attack. A quick spray forced two Geth to take cover and left one in the open. Hall hammered that one until he got to cover, leaving the Geth in pieces and leaking fluids on the ground. He waited for his rifle to cool as Garrus and Shepard shot the other two.

They took their Shots and Hall casually walked over to find the ruined Geth. Hall shot the robots a few more times each with his sidearm and then said, "We're clear."

Shepard and Garrus moved forward, Shepard took ahold of Halls arm and demanded, "Why didn't you save him?"

"Save who?" Hall asked, while shaking Shepards grip.

"The colonist, why didn't you push him away or target his shooter first?" Hall said nothing. "You are a piece of work. You should have saved him, what is the Alliance for if not to save as many people as we can?" Shepard asked as she walked past, Garrus stared at Hall for another second then followed with Hall in tow.

Hall kept scanning rooftops, doorways and everywhere else Geth might come from while Shepard played twenty questions with the colonists who all directed them to talk with Fai Dan.  
>"I don't know, I just … you should talk to Fai Dan."<br>"I'm just in charge of the rations, I don't really know what's going on, you should talk to Fai Dan."  
>"I don't really want to talk; Fai Dan will be more help."<p>

_That's a whole lot of fucking weird but, okay, to Fai Dan we go._

After they made it to the other side of the colony they found Fai Dan, who was a scrawny little man, with someone that looked like they might be the chief of security.

"Oh, Alliance Marines," Fai Dan said.

"A little late, aren't you?" The chief of security demanded.

"Arcelia, they're here to help," Fai Dan said in a firm, 'I need you to shut up' tone.

"We're here to secure the colony and find out what the Geth are looking for, how can we help?" Shepard asked Fai Dan as reassuringly as possible.

"We lost the tower and the Geth have been landing more on the far side, if you could clear the tower we can hold the colony," Fai Dan responded

Then, Geth started pouring from the tower, Shepard, Garrus and Hall all pulled out their rifles and started scoping the Geth as they came into view. A couple Geth fell to scattered fire and the third and fourth fell to being shot by two shooters which gave the Geth inside pause. "Hall, switch to assault rifle and move up to the door, we'll cover you."

Hall switched as asked and moved to the doorway and glanced inside, "Clear to me, at least three hostiles inside."

Shepard and Garrus came to the other side of the doorway. Shepard and Hall took out grenades and tossed them inside, both grenades exploded which made both Shepard and Hall jump to action and rushed through the door. In five seconds every hostile in the room was reduced to scrap.

"Efficient," Garrus said as he followed with nothing worth shooting.

They advanced further inside until two hoppers, Geth that cling to the wall using suction cups, magnetism or just sheer fucking willpower, took shots at the unaware fire team. Hall took a knee and tracked one of them, forcing it to continue jumping by taking shots at it any time it was still. Garrus and Shepard tracked the other one and put one round each in its chest; it fell and shattered on the floor. Then Garrus and Shepard took over attacking the first, Hall scanned their surroundings while Shepard and Garrus killed the second in a fashion similar to how they killed the first.

They stormed the stormed up the steps and found a fire team of Geth setting up defensive positions Hall pinned two down with assault rifle fire while Garrus and Shepard killed the other two with sniper fire then they shifted to the two Hall pinned down. Shepard told Hall to move forward and flush the Geth out and that she and Garrus would hang back and cover him. Hall crept up on the right and flanked one of the Geth, he hit it with a few shots before it stood up and took a shot from Shepards rifle. This prompted the second one to stand, its head shattered from the force of Garrus' shot.

This cleared the way to the Geth landing zone. Shepard and Hall looked over the edge, saw a Geth Prime, a Geth that stands three meters tall and is carrying an assault rifle plus explosives, the two of them ducked down and went for their grenades. Shepard looked at Hall and said, "Three … two … one" which ended with both of them throwing grenades at the Prime which went to pieces from the combined concussions of two grenades exploding. Shepard, Garrus and Hall all went and took the high ground where the Geth had been, tearing through the remaining two Geth with assault rifle fire before turning their attention to the lower half. The three regular Geth were torn apart under the combined fire of Shepard and Hall while Garrus switched back to his sniper. The drop ship dropped two more Geth which hadn't even reacted to what was happening by the time their deaths had been guaranteed by either two shots from Garrus or a dozen from Shepard and Hall.

They returned to Fai Dan, "We've cleared the tower, the colony should be safe for a while," Shepard said.

"Thank you, that will ease things for us so we can be better prepared, is there questions I can answer for you?" Fai Dan asked, clearly less stressed than he was before.

"Do you know where the main concentration of Geth are?" Shepard asked.

"The attack started at the ExoGeni headquarters, it might be by there," Fai Dan responded.

"It's down the highway, the road leads straight to it," Arcelia added aggressively without being asked, "You can't miss it."

"Do you have any idea what the Geth are looking for?" Shepard asked.

"We're just a small colony, someone at ExoGeni might know," Fai Dan said.

Shepard seemed disappointed there wasn't more, "That's all I have for now, we'll be heading to ExoGeni soon."

**3/7**

"I am underwhelmed by these overwhelming odds," Hall said while on the guns in the Mako. The had just departed from the colony's garage onto the highway towards ExoGeni.

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked.

"Hall is saying that we're fighting all these Geth and they're spread so thin that there's no real challenge," Shepard added.

" I bet the three of us could take the Quarian home world if this is how the Geth always fight," Hall added with a hint of boredom.

"Been talking to Tali, I see," Shepard said from the driver's seat.

"Whenever I want someone to talk to that I don't need a crowbar to get a sentence from she makes for a good conversation, no offense Garrus," Hall responded.

"Is that another human saying?"

Shepard laughed and responded, "No, Hall is saying you're too short on words."

"I prefer to only say enough to convey my message."

"That's my point, Garrus, compared to you Tali won't shut up," Hall said as he swiveled the guns around looking for targets and found some that they were driving up to. Those targets were easily dispatched by the Makos superior firepower; three were flung into the air by the cannon and were crushed under their own weight when they landed. The remaining one crumpled under the machine gun fire. _If only we had just one of these on Eden Prime, the 212 would have waltzed out of there virtually unscathed._Hall thought of the tactics they used, how a Mako would have improved their situation, how many would have survived. The Mako coming to a halt snapped Hall back into the present.

"There must be survivors nearby based on radio traffic, let's try to connect with them." _Ahh, Shepard, always the Good Samaritan._

Shepard got out of the Mako and led Garrus and Hall down the only obvious route other than continuing on towards ExoGeni. At the bottom of the ramp they found Exo-Geni security and staff. The security let them pass and Shepard went to the two staff that seemed to be in charge, an older Asian man and an older European woman. The woman spoke first, "Its good that you've come, we were starting to think no one was coming!" Shepard was about to speak before the woman blurted out, "have you seen my daughter? She might still be up by ExoGeni headquarters."

"I just came from Zhu's Hope and was going to ExoGeni, I didn't see anyone there that didn't look like a colonist," Shepard responded.

"I thought you said everyone was dead, Jeong," the woman shot the man an angry look.

"Probably, I said they were probably all dead," Jeong responded.

"They're not dead, though it looked like they had been through hell," Shepard filled them in on the situation back at the colony.

"If you're going to ExoGeni can you look for my daughter?" The woman asked, she had been concerned about the colonists but was clearly stressed about her daughter. _I guess blood is still thicker than water,_Hall thought.

"Julianna, stop, we can do a proper accounting of causalities after the Geth have been dealt with." Jeong shifted his attention to Shepard, "We're waiting for back-up from corporate, if you're going up there remove only the Geth."

Both Shepard and Julianna looked like they were going to throttle him but Julianna started in on him first, "She's my daughter you corporate tool!"

Shepard interjected before losing their attention to fighting, "I'm not looking for your corporation's secrets and I'll get anyone still alive out of there." Both parties seemed to be won over by that statement.

Shepard took Garrus and Hall back to the Mako and continued down the highway towards ExoGeni, resistance had thickened as the Geth must have realized a storm was coming for them. "Shepard, are you seeing the barricade?" Hall asked from the gunners seat.

"I am indeed, thoughts?"

"Full throttle and jump it, kill everything on the other side sounds like an exciting plan to me," Hall responded.

"I agree with Halls assessment, Shepard," Garrus added, "If we get out and try to clear the debris by hand we'll probably come under fire from enemy snipers."

"Alright, let's make it happen," Shepard said as she pushed the throttle and the engine stretched its legs to make the jump. The Mako was really straining to put on speed once it was climbing an uphill climb to the barricade and, presumably, the Geth defensive position. Once the Mako had given its all Shepard turned on the jets usually used for drops from the Normandy; the jets gave the Mako the life to put it over the barricade. The vehicle came down hard on a Geth Prime, smashing it beneath its wheels.

Now that they were on the other side Hall saw two Armature units being supported by ten standard Geth. The Amatures powered their pulse charges which Hall saw which made him shout, "Evasive maneuvers, incoming siege pulse!" Shepard was already cutting the wheel when he called out and deftly made the Mako dodge around the deadly explosions. Hall swiveled the gun around and started taking down one of the Armatures shields with machine gun fire, after twenty shots he discharged the cannon which broke the shields and brought down the Armature and a few of its supporting Geth. He doubled the effort on the second Armature as Shepard continued to swerve around causing the Geth to not be able to effectively hit them. The second Armature fell to a replication of the volley that felled the first and the remaining few Geth were blasted apart by the machine gun before Hall had to let off the trigger so it wouldn't overheat. Shepard had already turned towards ExoGeni by the time Hall had finished the last Geth.

**4/7**

They drove into the garage for ExoGeni and saw the entrance was a tall and narrow opening in the concrete "Hey, Garrus, take the guns, I have an idea and I need you to cover me," Hall said as he opened the hatch and climbed out once the Mako came to a halt.

"No, Hall, don't," Shepard said and made a grab to keep him from running off; "You don't know what's in there!" Hall ignored Shepard and ran to the opening and looked inside, after the quick glance he fired his assault rifle around the corner without looking and then shrunk away from the opening. Fire erupted from inside for a few seconds. Hall moved back to the opening and repeated his random firing and pulled away. This time the fire was sustained for ten seconds. Hall ran past the opening back towards the Mako and fire erupted again but harmlessly bounced off his shield. At that moment the gun on the Mako opened up with the cannon then machine gun fire followed by the cannon again. Garrus and Shepard got out.

"That was smart drawing them in like that but you could've gotten killed," Shepard said walking over to Hall.

"It worked and I had you two covering me, besides Garrus was looking bored," Hall responded smiling.

"I was not bored, I was feeling sick from being tossed around in my seat," Garrus responded, showing a hint of humor. Shepard gave Garrus an overdone and sarcastic look of being offended.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Shepard said taking point after dropping the act. She led them through the now blast scared opening and up to a door which had a shield over it.

Hall put his hand against the energy shield and said, "We'd need a Normandys cannon or a lot of explosives to get through this."

"I guess we're taking the long way around," Shepard said going back to an opening in the floor they walked past. The three dropped down and proceeded into a large open room. Hall was scanning the open room following behind Shepard when he heard the pistol going off. Hall spun his rifle and started advancing when Shepard held her arm out to stop him.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you were a Geth or one of those varren, I just shot, I …" the young woman that was holding the pistol said while getting hysterical.

"It's okay, are you Juliannas daughter?" Shepard asked trying to redirect the womans attention so she wouldn't need to be carried out

"Yeah, I'm Lizbeth, did she make it out okay?" The girl asked.

"She's fine and bunkered down with about twenty other ExoGeni staff, we'll take you there on our way out after eliminating the Geth," Shepard answered, "Do you have any idea what the Geth might be looking for?"

"I don't know, we were researching local flora, species 37, the Thorian," Lizbeth answered, I'll tell you all about it but, not here."

"We have movement," Hall said, he saw a varren run into the light which was quickly joined by the rest of the pack. Hall opened fire on the pack followed by Garrus and Shepard. Hall shot and killed one than shifted fire to the first one to the next in order until Shepard shifted her fire all the way to the right; over there she shot the varren that tried to flank them.

"Okay, stay put and we'll come back for you," Shepard said to Lizbeth.

Lizbeth gave a keycard to Shepard and said, "Here's my keycard, it will help you get around easier." Lizbeth then returned to her hiding place.

The three crossed the room as they proceeded into the main ExoGeni installation. The Geth had not prepared for their main security to be breached or else they would have been more prepared. They happened on two Geth kneeling before a blinding light, Shepard pointed at Garrus and pointed to the Geth on the left and gave Hall the one on the right. She whispered a countdown and both of them shot at the same time which killed both Geth.

"These power cables are too big to cut through easily and that anchor for the Geth ship, we'd need Normandys cannon of a lot of explosives to knock that out," Hall said.

"The Geth clearly did not finesse this landing that is brute strength," Garrus added.

"We'll keep looking, somehow we can knock the ship off and disable the security field," Shepard responded.

They walked up some stairs and happened on a Krogan talking to an ExoGeni Virtual Intelligence. The VI was telling the Krogan that he lacked sufficient clearance to access the information he had requested, this prompted the Krogan to threaten to 'blow it's virtual ass into actual dust.' The VI being a piece of software was not intimidated and informed it that there was a line forming for use of the VI. The Krogan foolishly pulled it's shotgun out which hadn't unfolded by the time the three had peppered the Krogan with assault rifle fire.

"Welcome back, Dr. Baynham."

"Congratulations on your degree … and your marriage," Hall laughed and Shepard laughed. Garrus seemed confused so while Shepard interacted with the VI Hall explained that under older traditions human females assumed the family name of the male they married. Garrus listened and nodded in understanding at the end.

Shepard turned and said, "She lied to me, I do not like being lied to."

"Commander?" Garrus asked to indicate his confusion.

"The Thorian is below Zhu's Hope, it has infected and taken control of the minds of most of the colonists," Shepard explained, "And Lizbeth knew the whole time."

**5/7**

They walked into a room where another of the anchors were set and were ambushed by Geth that had prepared for their arrival. Instantly they were under fire. Shepard grabbed Garrus by the collar and pulled him into cover with her while Hall rolled to a block that had been set in the room. He had cover from all of the Geth but one, Hall threw a grenade at that one which blew apart when the grenade made contact with its chest. Hall lifted his rifle and fired it blindly over the block to keep the Geth from advancing on him. Shepard leaned from cover and fired her sniper rifle, moments later Garrus left cover calmly walking as he laid down a barrage of assault rifle fire. Shepard left cover doing the same.

Once all return fire stopped Hall got up. Shepard looked him over for wounds then shifted her attention to the anchor. "Still no good, let's keep moving."

A few rooms later Shepard glanced in and held up a hand for the team to stop. She used hand signals to indicate there was six and that she wanted the both of them on snipers. She gave Hall the far left and Garrus the far right. She pulled out a grenade and indicated for Hall to do the same, she did a countdown and they burst into the room, threw the grenades which took out three Geth that had bunched together. Hall and Garrus sniped their targets and Shepard punched hers target with half a dozen shots with her assault rifle before it went down. Once all the Geth were down she rushed up the stairs on the right side of the room, Hall and Garrus chased after. She pointed at both of them and indicated a half wall that overlooked the other half of the room which had been divided by one of the Geth ships anchors.

Once they were set up she said, "open fire," and started shooting over the wall with her assault rifle. She was focusing on keeping Geth from taking the stairs; Garrus and Hall were trying to make the Geth pay for leaving cover. Hall fell into his rhythm of fire, pause for two seconds, fire, pause for two seconds, fire. He destroyed one Geths head and tore open the chest of two more and the fight ended with eight dead Geth. Shepard looked at the door for the docking bay and found its controls. She and Garrus jury rigged the door to slam shut which, after a couple tries, severed the anchor and the power cables as it closed. The whole tower swung as the Geth transport let go of the tower and fell with a massive crash.

**6/7**

They found Lizbeth back by the Mako. Shepard crossed her arms and stared at Lizbeth while she said nothing.

Lizbeth rubbed the back of her neck and said, "You found the notes on the Thorian, didn't you?" Lizbeth didn't wait for an answer before she continued, "When I found out about it I complained but was threatened with being given over to it, when the Geth attacked I tried to send a message to colonial affairs but got cut off when the Geth interrupted the power. The Thorian has mind control powers where it infects people with spores and then has some sort of telepathic link with them."

Shepard unfolded her arms and said, "We're going to Zhu's Hope and we're going to set this right."

"I'm coming with you!" Lizbeth blurted out. "I want to help … right the wrongs I helped make," she finished with a sad and guilty tone.

They drove into the enclosure that housed the ExoGeni employees when Juliannas voice came in over the radio, "This is a distress call from the colony of Zhu's hope…" Julianna got cut off by Jeong who said with anger in his voice, "Get away from that radio!"

Lizbeth cried out about it being her mother and demanded the Mako be stopped. Shepard did so and Lizbeth ran down the ramp. "We should press on, Commander; we have to deal with the Thorian."

"It's waited this long, it'll wait a bit longer," Shepard turned off the Mako, "this situation is bound to explode."

Hall guessed they weren't seriously assaulting human survivors so he didn't even bother with pulling a weapon. They tried to sneak up but were noticed by Jeong who demanded they come out. They came down and Hall was distracted from the conversation by watching the security staff which seemed to be getting anxious, _they know just enough to be dangerous to themselves, not enough to know to keep their sidearms holstered._

Jeongs anger flashed when Julianna told him "this is a human colony and can't just be repurposed!" Hall heard the stress and thought he saw one of the gaurds going for their pistol. Hall pulled his own and put two rounds into the man's chest before he had his pistol out then Hall leveled his pistol at the other man's head who raised his hands instead of going for his weapon.

"Goddamnit Stop!" Shepard yelled at everyone then refocused on Jeong, "I don't want any more dead, we're going to go kill the Thorian which will eliminate the need to kill everyone and your company can highlight the role it played in keeping the survivors alive during a Geth attack for a lot of good PR."

Jeong thought about what Shepard said despite having the stronger negotiating position, "If everything is gone by the time the company men get here then you have a deal, Shepard."

Shepard shifted her attention to the shot security guard, he was still alive. Shepard applied medigel which stopped the bleeding, "This will hold you together until the colony is cleared, then we can get you to a doctor."

Julianna came over while Shepard was working and spoke to her, "If the colonists are already in a weakened state we have some gases you can use to temporarily paralyze them so you won't have to kill them."

"I'd like that but won't my team get caught in the clouds, too?"

"They would but since they don't have compromised systems they'll be able to withstand the effects just fine."

"Okay, put the gas together to work in a grenade and I'll use it."

The Julianna coached Shepard through use of a converted grenade to neutralize the colonists without killing them. Shepard then policed up the few grenades they had left. They got in the Mako and rode back to the colony. The hordes of Thorian Creepers were a little more challenging than the Geth had because there were so many and so concentrated; since they were unarmed and unarmored they were still almost as quickly dispatched as the Geth that had come before them. Hall had been having so much fun with legitimate targets he hadn't noticed they were being shot at by the untrained colonists until Shepard put one of the grenades into their makeshift bunker and brought them down with gas.

They got into the elevator and rode it down. "Are we calling the colonists hostile?" Hall asked.

Shepard turned to him, "No, we're not, you're keeping your weapons stowed because you almost made a dangerous situation explode back there with Jeong and the security." Hall stared at Shepards face which was twisted with anger, _she's really beautiful when she's mad. _Shepard closed the space between and grabbed his rifle, "Put. This. Away." He complied slowly, wondering why she was so angry then it hit him, _there aren't enough grenades, I had two, she had one and Garrus never had any. She's not mad at me, she's mad at what might happen._

**7/7**

"You really are trying to get me killed, Commander, you're the first to send me into combat **without a weapon.**" Hall said from cover while Shepard and Garrus tried to get as many of the colonists to bunch up as possible.

"Maybe if you weren't too busy shooting everything and everyone in sight you'd still be shooting," Shepard offered while letting her pistol cool.

"What's the point of all this firepower if I don't get to use it?" Hall asked and Shepard ignored, she threw and detonated a grenade which brought down a group of five. "One left, right Commander?"

"Yeah, fucking one left unless you two are holding out on me." Both Hall and Garrus responded in the negative. They then left this cover to try to get the next group to bunch up as much as possible. After some creative flanking the trio managed to herd the next four they found together, Shepard wasted no time in getting the grenade into the group and gassing them. Shepards shoulders slumped as she rechecked her grenade pouch, still none. "Hall, you're back on."

Hall frowned and grabbed his assault rifle off his back; he knew what was needed here and what wouldn't be done. Hall went to the corner of the building and set the assault rifle down and unfolded his sniper. He leaned until he saw a colonist, he didn't hesitate before putting a round right through her head, blood and brain trailed the round as it came out the back of her head. Hall put the sniper away while it was still folding and picked up his rifle, charging at the remaining two colonists. He forced them both into cover with his fire which let him move closer and around. They shot wildly over their cover without looking. Hall flanked them, the first he tore apart with the assault rifles fire and severly injured the second before the weapon overheated. Hall looked down at the second colonist. He was a bloody mess from Hall shooting center mass on him; he quivered and was still awake, still trying to breathe. Like Higgins did only this one was lingering a lot longer. Hall pulled his sidearm, whispered "I'm sorry" and shot the man in the heart and then the head. Hall was putting the pistol away when the leader shot himself in the head after a brief and pained conversation with Shepard.

They cleared the way and went down to find the Thorian; it turned out to be a massive asymmetrical plant with tendrils reaching into the ground to support a massive and unknowably large nervous system. Garrus summed up the sight best when he said, "This wasn't in any of my training manuals."

While the three were still absorbing the sight of the Thorian it birthed, yes, birthed, an Asari whose pigmentation had gone green rather than the usual blue. "Invaders!" She shouted, "Your every step is a transgression. You are in and before the Thorian, it commands you be in awe!"

"You gave something to Saren, I need it, too," Shepard responded.

"The flesh that came before you made trade," the Asari responded, "little time elapsed until that trade was broken by cold ones that destroy the flesh that was fairly given."

"Give it to me and I will pursue the one that betrayed you," Shepard offered.

"The Thorian views the air you push as falsehoods and it will listen no more," the Asari illuminated with biotic energy and attempted to throw the group. Both Shepard and Hall rolled out of the way but Garrus was caught and thrown back into the hallway where they had come from. Hall came up shooting at the Asari; Shepard looked back to Garrus and saw him getting up so she joined Hall with damaging the Asaris shields. The Asari didn't have enough time to make it to cover before her shield failed. Shepard stopped firing once she'd hit the Asari with a couple rounds, Hall kept firing until the Asari was on the ground and had stopped moving.

Creepers started moving everywhere all around them, they groaned and scratched at the ground which made for a terrible noise. Shepard and Hall exchanged looks as Garrus joined them, and said "Oh, I didn't miss all the action."

"Enjoyed your nap?" Shepard teased.

"Yeah but I kept hearing guns going off, made it hard to actually rest," Garrus responded.

Hall sighed and asked, "Do I get to kill everything in here yet?"

"Remember your fire discipline," Shepard responded to Hall, "let's go"

This time around the Creepers were more interesting because of the added Asari, which the Thorian birthed a couple more times, and being down one Mako since it had to be left in the garage but it all ended the same way; lots of dead creepers and then a dead Thorian.

Finally the Asari was dropped out of a pod on what was left of the Thorian rather than being birthed by the Thorian, this time she was a purple instead of the Green. Hall charged up to her and when she offered no resistance he put her arm into a locked position behind her back and brought her down to the ground, hard. He knelt on her back and put the barrel of his pistol against the back of her head and was about to send her to her goddess when Shepard finally intervened. "Hall, stop it."

"This one is just as dangerous as all the rest"

"She has surrendered," Garrus, clearly in support of Shepard, responded to Hall.

"Doesn't change my opinion."

"Holster that weapon!" Shepard said, anger rising in her voice at the end.

Hall frowned and holstered the pistol, "If she turns your brain into jelly don't come crying to me."  
>Shepard spoke to the Asari and then let Shepard let the Asari insert memories in regards to the protheans, Hall didn't quite follow but it wasn't his brain being scrambled so it mattered little to him. After that, Shepard just let the Asari go on the promise the Asari made to help the colony.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**1/6**

Hall wrote his report and turned it in. He skipped the debriefing and no one came looking for him. Either he wasn't missed or wasn't wanted, he didn't care either way. He disassembled the cannon on the Mako and was well into cleaning each piece when Garrus and Ashley returned to their posts. Garrus ignored him and Ashley seemed torn about if she was coming over but eventually just returned to her post. Another hour would pass before Shepard came down. She spoke to Ashley first; Ashley said a little too loudly that she thought Shepard should talk to Hall. Shepard spoke to Wrex then Garrus and probably went over to speak with Tali but Hall hadn't noticed, too busy with the project he set in front of himself. Ultimately, Shepard did come, "Hall, can I talk to you?" Hall sighed, set down what he was cleaning and slid off the Mako in front of Shepard. He said nothing, just gave her an expectant look. She looked down, clearly sad, before she said, "I can't help but think if we'd just …"

Hall cut her off, "no, don't start into this second guessing crap. You had a foul deed put in front of you and then you had me do it! Now you see what's on the other side of special ops, the black missions where everything in front of you is an enemy, no matter how young or old, infirm or begging for their lives. You complete the fucking mission and then you get shit on by career officers once you're no longer necessary!" Hall went from being angry at just Shepard as a commanding office to being angry with Shepard as a person, "I always thought you didn't have what it took to hack the black missions and now I know it! So don't come down here to second guess the shit you didn't even have to do!" Hall realized the entire hold was staring at them once he'd finished.

"I didn't realize you felt so strong about this" Shepard replied in a quiet voice.

Hall repeated Shepard in complete disbelief of what he had just heard, once he'd thought through everything that might mean he simply spit on the ground by her feet and climbed back on the Mako.  
>"Hall get back down here," Shepard said in a commanding tone. He ignored her while getting ready to polish the next part of the gun. "Hall, I am commanding you to get down here now."<p>

"Shit on your orders."

That pretty well ended the conversation, Shepard eyed him for a minute and left. Several minutes later two marines came down in full armor and carrying pistols. Hall paid them no attention while he continued to assemble the gun.

"Sgt Hall, we need you to come with us."

"Busy"

They turned the safeties off on their pistols, "you need to come with us right now."

Hall stopped what he was working on, wiped his hands on a rag that he had amongst the parts and said to Garrus, "Sorry about the gun." Garrus' mandibles flicked as he watched Hall slide off the Mako and let himself be taken by the Marines.

Hall spent overnight being confined to a bunk before Shepard came and opened the bunk; Hall awoke as the lid opened. He squinted at her through barely opened eyes. "The fuck you want?"

"You disobeyed a direct order. You knew it had to come to this."

"Disobeying orders is what I do best."

"If it hadn't been in front of the entire hold I could have ignored it."

"Going to dump me on a black rock now?" Hall settled back, interlocking his fingers behind his head.

"No, but you are going to do a solo mission."

His eyes opened the rest of the way, "I'mma what?"

"Going on a solo mission, I need to take point on missions that involve pursuing Saren but I keep getting reports of things that need to be looked in on, these are not priority but someone should look in on them. We're going to put you on a planet with a mission; you'll be on the ground without support for at least 96 hours. You'll accomplish as much as possible and then we'll come back to either complete the mission or collect you."

"I'm going to do this, why?"

"Because you're qualified, able, willing, excited about not having someone looking over your shoulder or needing you to watch out for them and, most importantly, because it will get you out of another court-martial."

Shepard extended her hand which Hall took, they shook hands then Shepard pulled him out of the bunk, "I hope you're rested because you've got two hours to gear up and go."

**2/6**

"Ever heard of Joseph Kittinger?" Hall asked as he entered the Bridge.

"Oh jes-" Joker exclaimed clearly surprised from not knowing Hall was there a moment ago, "don't do that!" Hall waited while Joker composed himself, "do you mean Colonel Kittinger from the twentieth century?"

"One in the same"

"He flew across the Atlantic in a balloon or and that impressed some people from the government, right?" Joker half stated, half asked.

"He also jumped from a balloon from the edge of space and set a freefall record."

"Yeah, why are you …" Joker gave Hall an astonished look, "Nooo, you don't mean to …"

"I do, I wanted to clear it with you first."

"It's insanely dangerous and no one has dared try it since FTL was invented, of course I want to try it!" Joker rubbed his chin in thought, "How would we get you off the ship without killing you?"

"Obviously out the airlock is out of the question, I was thinking like how you dump the Mako should be sufficient."

"Hit atmo, open the hold, open hatches for twenty seconds, close hatches and the hold and leave atmo; cuts the time on a landing down from ten minutes to less than a minute. It's unnecessarily dangerous but really hard and cool. Wait, do you have a parachute?"

"Yes, I carry it with me for space deployments in case I get spaced and end up making atmosphere fall against my will."

"Well, if you're willing to dangle your life from some cloth and string, be my guest. We'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Hall dashed off towards the elevator and to prepare for the jump.

**3/6**

Hall finished suiting up in the parachute in the hold when Joker came on the speaker system informing everyone to clear the hold if they were not signed on for this mission. Hall was quickly left alone until Shepard came down. "What's going on?"

"I am about to attempt to recreate one of the most dangerous jumps in history."

"Why not just wait for us to set down?"

"To speed you on your way so that you can have more time to accomplish your mission, Commander."

"You're not that considerate; what's the real reason?"

"It's fucking awesome and it's still on a list of approved infiltration techniques for Special Forces."

"Are you even jump certified?"

"Didn't read the accolades yet, huh? Might want to clear the hold, Commander." Shepard left Hall in the hold, he rechecked his gear and tightened his helmet and triple checked that his air was on. "Comms check, read me Joker?"

"Loud and clear, ready?"

"Mission is go"

The hold opened on Halls reply, "Dumping in, 3, 2, 1." The sudden deceleration as the Normandy opened its hatches was enough to fling Hall from inside the Normandy into open air, he watched the ship clear him and head for space.

"Hall, come in," Shepard chimed into the radio.

"You're on your own; expect to be so for the next four days. We might be longer so take your time and don't do anything rash."

"Aww, Commander, are you worried about me?"

"I just don't want to have to file the report on this if I don't have to," Shepard teased.

Hall laughed and responded with "copy all, out," and focused on his next three minutes of freefall.

**4/6**

Hall tensed this muscle and then that muscle to make the slightest of course changes, since this high that meant a difference in miles on the surface he didn't want to throw the direction off too much. He had a clear idea of where he wanted to set his boots on the ground, a large flat area just north of the civilian compound he was being deployed to investigate. He expected that he'll show up to find a radio out or a massive power outage; critical but nothing life threatening. The civvies will greet him with adoration because the alliance is thinking of everybody, he'll eat well for a couple of days while helping around the base, mount up in the Normandy when it gets back, nothing tough, no one gets hurt. Over two minutes in he opens his parachute to slow his descent and used the cable provided to guide him in to the field he wanted to land in. He ran off the extra forward motion and gathered the parachute up and stuffed it into its bag, he would refold it later.

He grabbed the assault rifle from his back and was up and moving while it was still unfolding itself. The installation was a ten minute walk from where he set down and since Chasca was a tidally locked planet there was no sense in waiting for a nighttime that would never come. He jogged up to the first building and found that it looked fairly abandoned. He opened the door to the prefab and entered to find the entrance just as abandoned as the rest. He opened the next set of doors and heard some breathing in the room so he spoke, "hello?" Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly because it shrieked in response which started dozens of feet to start running for the door. He closed it and burnt out the controls on his side, effectively sealing the door. Within seconds he heard scratching and pounding at the door.

He knocked the prime numbers below ten through the door to see if he got a response more than pounding back, only pounding he pulled two grenades from is satchel and threw both of them against the door right next to each other. _'Two always wanted to, never got to try to' in one mission_ he thought as be blew the door open with his grenades. He leaned out of cover and started shooting through the blasted open door while the smoke was still clearing. He took down most of the husks inside with the grenades, the rest with assault rifle fire. _These must be the things Shepard encountered on Eden Prime._ _This mission just got a lot harder. Fortunately prefab buildings all have these ridiculous choke points._

Hall put away the assault rifle and took out the sniper, opened the door and scans the field with the scope before returning back into the field that he came from. He stays low on a long and wide hook to get up the rise to get to the science facility. Every scan he made with the scope came up empty so he decided the coast is clear before he ran to the rise and belly crawled up it. He saw thee more of the Husks, easy prey at this distance but too convenient, _this is a trap, _Hall thought, _either they already know where I am because I waltzed into the last building or the only way to find them is to spring the trap._Hall took the shots and put the husks down. He switched to the assault rifle and jogged his way across the plateau to the Science building.

**5/6**

Inside he descended the flight of stairs. _Why do scientists always bury their compounds, this isn't deep enough to protect it from a blast or to make collapsing it dangerous, it's just creepy._He walked past the windows that opened to dirt and rocks and entered the main part of the compound. Hall opened a few more sets of doors before he found more husks. He drew them into the chokepoint of the hallway between sections and cut them down.

He went deeper into the facility looking for more when he started taking fire from behind; he dove to cover and peeked out to see Geth forming up to draw battle lines. Hall went down the hallway into the rear of the facility after a couple Geth tried to charge him and were destroyed the Geth settled in out in the main facility and he in the back. Hall checked the clock in his suit, _not even five hours in and I'm pinned down. Do I fight my way out or wait for reinforcements? _Hall set his assault rifle down and pulled the sniper back out and stared down the scope as he scanned the small amount of the room that was visible. A Geth had the unfortunate timing to expose itself while he was looking right at it, Hall double-tapped the rifle which caused it to overheat but tore the Geth to pieces. "Haha you bitches, I can do this all day!" Hall was unsure if they would respond to taunts but he decided to give it a shot, there seemed to be no response from the other end but Hall knew there was more than the one. He settled in and began to wait.

_They could be landing reinforcements, preparing explosives or just getting ready for a general charge,_ Hall checked the clock again, _six hours, it's been an hour since they broke contact. They're still out there, waiting. _Hall grabbed a box from one of the side rooms and threw it out into the main room only to see it torn to shreds by Geth fire. _Yep, still out there. It's a little long for explosives, reinforcements maybe, or just waiting me out. _Hall closed the door, anchored a grenade to a heavier box and used his knife to make a notch in the door to tie the pin off to using some wire.

Hall closed the next set of doors and went about cracking the glass between him and the dirt. After shooting it for a minute Hall had smashed the glass enough that he could get to the dirt without cutting himself. He used his knife to break up the dirt and pulled it into the building, after a couple minutes he made it past the compact dirt into the loose stuff.

He was scooping handfuls of the stuff working in a generally upward direction when he heard his grenade go off. He ducked back down into the installation and trained his rifle on the door, for two long minutes he waited for them to open, they didn't. _I guess the grenade has discouraged any further attempt right now._He went back to his digging and made it a couple more feet before the dirt collapsed above him into his face. After spitting a couple times and rubbing his eyes he realized he was looking at open sky beyond the bottom of an Armature unit. He wiggled up his newly made hole. He crawled away over the lip of the plateau and rolled down to the base where he found somewhere to hide for a minute. Once he was certain that he had escaped notice Hall ran to the other housing unit, more husks, no ambush. Hall dealt with those with the speed he had before and then fled to the mountain to the east of the science facility. After a couple difficult hours of finding a way up he achieved the summit where he lay down with his sniper rifle, observing the science facility for any sign that they realized he was gone.

**6/6**

After the first 24 hours elapsed the Geth seemed to start moving around like they were looking for something but they didn't wander far before they seemed to go into some sort of standby mode. He had a Shot but assumed he'd get a couple before he gave up his position and then they'd come after him. _Best to sit tight and wait for the cavalry_, he thought watching the now inactive Geth. He pulled out his map and worked out the coordinates for the science facility and spent some time deciding where the three best spots to target with the Normandys cannon was. After a little sleep and a small, unheated ration Hall spent the rest of the time keeping tabs on the Geth.

Many hours later the Geth all started moving about, they went into positions that had Hall not been watching them at the time he would have otherwise missed. That's when his comms crackled to life, "Shore party, come in shore party," Jokers voice came over the radio

"This is shore party."

"Status?" Commander Shepard came in.

"Shore party status is green, request bombardment from frigate at uploaded positions as soon as possible," Hall uploaded the coordinates he had triple checked over the last few hours.

"Requested positions received, standby."

"Shore party standing by."

"Requested position is civilian target," Shepard came back.

"Civilians KIA by hostiles currently occupying position."

"You certain shore party?"

"Almost got my ass dusted finding out, target is hostile."

After a minute of dead air Shepard gets back on the comm, "Shore party?"

"Go ahead"

"Can targets be eliminated with shipboard tank?"

"That's affirmative, recommend ship board cannon for safety."

"Denied, putting tank on the ground."

_Ahh, Shepard, can't be outdone by the lone gun on a suicide mission, can you?  
><em>

A few minutes later the Normandy entered the atmosphere and swooped low enough to drop the Mako. Hall watched it roll out its momentum and then start towards the science facility, Hall shot a couple of the Geth to get them out of their positions so that Shepard could use the cannon on them. The Mako made quick work of the remaining Geth; once complete Shepard parked next to the science facility and goes inside with her fire team. Hall abandons his position and finds his way back down the mountain. He's leaning against the Mako once Shepard has finished picking over the scene. "We done here? I could use a shower."

"You certainly look like you do" Shepard says as she's climbing into the Mako.

"Whew, smells like it, too," Williams says while covering her nose, she then continues with a teasing tone "Commander, can we strap him to the roof?"

"I was going to let him use your seat," Shepard replies from the driver's seat.

Garrus and Hall remain standing outside of the Mako and exchange a glance, "can you believe the disrespect I put up with?" Hall asks Garrus. Hall climbs into the Mako before Garrus can answer and strapped in. Hall is sound asleep before they even start rolling and is well asleep once they are on the Normandy.


	5. Chapter 5

**1/2**

"Why do you have this old piece of cloth?" Williams asked Hall while she pointed at the parachute.  
>Hall opened his eyes and realized they're already on the Normandy and Williams has already changed.<p>

"For jumping out of perfectly fine aircraft," Hall answered sleepily, not quite taking Williams full meaning. He closed his eyes again.

Williams punched Halls leg armor and said, "I meant why don't you have one of the newer ones that fold themselves? It looks like you'll need to repack this one."

"Never trust a robot when your life is on the line," Hall answered, eyes still closed.

"Says the guy with a robot heart, time to wake up, Shepard needs your report."

"That can wait, sleeping now."

"Okay, you asked for it," Williams replied as she climbed into the Mako, unbuckled Hall from the seat and threw him out into the hold.

"Ow! God damn it! I'm up!" Hall pushed up to a standing position.

"You have been asleep for ten hours," Garrus said without looking from the terminal, "drastic measures were called for."

"See, even the Turian agrees with me," Williams added as shed climbed out of the Mako.

Hall looked at the pair incredulously then went to the elevator.

**2/2**

Cleaned, freshly shaved and in a new uniform Hall went to the Commanders quarters. The door slid open and Hall stepped inside and stood next to the Commanders desk. Shepard looked up from the report she was working on and returned to editing it. "I forwarded the report to you," Hall said.

"I saw," she responded. Hall continued to stand there awkwardly. "Okay, I'll bite, why are you here? I'd think you'd be thoroughly drunk or elbow deep in some project by now."

"The way I see it, if you were anyone else I'd be confined and awaiting to be dropped off at the next base and bound for a prison cell," Hall said, "I'm certainly not anyone's favorite, you'd probably please some generals and admirals by dumping me in a cell."

"Go on," Shepard leaned back and steepled her fingers.

"I was just wondering why you aren't."

"Why do you think?"

"I had four days to think on it and I couldn't figure why. It's what any of my other commanding officers would've done and instead you send me out into the field on my own."

"Hall, I had just asked you to kill civilians, they were firing at us but it wasn't their fault and it must have been weighing on you. Either you'd refuse the order and spend the rest of your life in confinement or you'd take the opportunity to be away and cool down."

"You didn't have to do that, you would have been fully in your rights to confine me."

"I would have been."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to be my friend," Hall laughed.

"Why do you do that? The moment anyone starts getting close to you, especially your CO, you try to push them away."

"I'm close with Gunnery Chief Williams," Hall responded.

"Are you? Pull up a chair Hall," Shepard pointed at the only other chair in the spartanly decorated room, "What does the Chief really know about you?"

Hall pulled the chair over and sat down, "She knows that I'm a N7 and that I … was in the 212 …" Hall kept thinking for a few moments but couldn't think of anything else.

"Do you see what I mean? You're not close to anyone, have you ever actually spoken to anyone about the things you've done?" Shepard had a sympathetic tone and a concerned look on her face.

Hall recoiled slightly in his seat, "Well no, why should I talk about that?"

"I don't have the clearance to see most of the things in your file; I see a lot of dates and locations," Shepard pulled up Halls file from the background, "That's what the Brass does for black ops and things they're ashamed of and hope the civilian government never hears about. One of the few things I can see is when you shot the Lieutenant before they demoted you all the way back to Sergeant. Most of the facts were classified so there wasn't enough information to prove or exonerate." Shepard turned away from the display and looked at Hall, "However, the file is not the man. I remember you from basic. You were aggressive but never had trouble with following orders, clean-cut and eager. We all thought you'd make it the furthest of any of us but here we are, what happened?"

"I got stuck in politics and pulled back when I finally did the right thing; how'd you become the poster child?"

"I played guerilla fighter against an army of Batarian Pirates for a couple of days until the Alliance could come and relieve my unit. I got propelled forward by politics since it was one of those victories everyone could be proud of," Shepard rubbed her eyes, as if she could rub away some deeper exhaustion, "That's the other part of why I'm not putting you in the brig, we're the opposite sides of a single coin. Politics helped me where they betrayed you. I've not had to work hard after my brush with death where you have been thrown back into the breach time and again." Hall just stared at Shepard, his face expressing something between disbelief and distrust. Shepard stayed quiet for about a minute, then she said, "I'm not going to press you to say anything but in the future rather than making a scene I'd prefer you simply say that you aren't ready to talk about it or that you'll see me later. Please don't force my hand again, Hall, you need this," Shepard gestures towards the hull of the ship, "or you need to muster out. Dismissed Sergeant, I need to finish these reports but come back later if you're ready to talk."

Hall stood up slowly, and saluted Shepard, "Thank you, Commander." Shepard simply smiled and saluted back.


	6. Chapter 6

**1/6**

Hall left Shepards quarters and realized he didn't have duty until the next day. He went to where he had stowed his gear and produced the bottle he'd drunk from about a week ago, he poured a glass over ice and started drinking. Kaiden was at his station like always, neither man acknowledged the others presence. Hall sipped the whiskey then set the glass on the table. He stared at the ice as it melted, not that the ice was of any real interest but it was something to focus his eyes on while his mind wandered. He finished what he had left then refreshed the glass with more.

**2/6**

Hall watched First Lieutenant Odierno get in front of the squad of N7 soldiers. Everyone stood up from their seats and saluted. Odierno saluted back once he was behind a podium, once the salutes were finished the N7 all sat down. "Gentlemen," Odierno started, "we have a top level mission and secrecy is paramount because we're going where the Alliance can never officially admit to having been in our lifetimes." Odierno pressed something on his Omnitool and a 3d display started to show a planet, "There is a rebellion taking place on Anhur right now and we are to go and assist the rebels."

There was a slight murmur of complaints that went through the squad which shut down when the Lieutenant continued.

"We are not going in as advisors, which will be a task reserved for others. We are going in to eliminate threats and make way for the rebellion and ensure a quick victory without either side knowing we were ever there. We're leaving in an hour, we expect to be on the ground for at least a month and if we fuck this up no one will be coming for us. Questions, gentlemen?"

Hall put his hand up, Odierno pointed at him, Hall stood up and asked, "How are we getting in and how are we getting out?" He sat down.

"We are being put in with the advisors, once on the ground we will set in a barracks and when night sets in we are to slip out of the base. Whenever the fight ends we're to slip in and reoccupy the barracks like nothing ever happened. Officially we will be AWOL until we come back which is what will give the Alliance deniability.

A hand shot up and Odierno pointed at the hand, its owner stood, a man of slight build named Dunford who was a sniper on fire team two, "You said secrecy is paramount, does that mean everything that can identify us is a legitimate target?" He sat back down after he finished asking his question.

"That's correct; anyone outside of this squad that can identify us is a legitimate target. You are to minimize civilian causalities whenever possible but if we are linked to any action against the Batarians it will result in a full scale war with them and the Brass doesn't want to risk it."

**3/6**

"I heard that I'd find you here," Ashley said as she sat down across the table from Hall.

Hall refocused his eyes onto her and responded, "It's not exactly a big ship; I'm surprised we don't hear every time joker scratches his balls."

"Are you okay? You were staring at that glass like it had just insulted your haircut."

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Soon you'll be telling me that you have a girlfriend and that you're going to retire," Williams teased.

Hall smiled, "A guys has got to have dreams. What about you, chief?"

"Me? A boyfriend and retire, not this decade."

"No, I meant do you ever think?" Hall smiled before he sipped some of his whiskey, the ice long since melted.

"You're such a jerk!" Williams kicked him under the table while she laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Just some officer I served under, nothing important," Hall replied.

"What's their name? Maybe I know them."

"Odierno, his name was Lieutenant Odierno."

Williams thought for a moment, "I can't say that I've ever served under anyone by that name."

Hall drank the rest of the watered down whiskey in his glass, "He was one of the Special Forces officers that got in because they thought it was a fast track to stars on their shoulders, not because they believed in the Alliance. They generally stick around long enough to get their boots dirty, generally a year or two, and then they leave."

Williams was staring at him like it was story time and once she realized Hall had stopped she asked, "Did you do anything interesting?"

"To anyone else I'd say 'no,' to you I'll say 'that's classified.' Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Shepard is always coming around and asking questions, I've talked about myself so much that I just wanted to hear someone else talk for a while."

"Garrus is always good for a conversation."

"I only have to take a crowbar to him slightly less than I have to with you to get anything."

"Hey, all of my family is dead, all my friends are dead, and everything I've done since basic is classified. I could talk about this whiskey here and compare it to other whiskey I've had if you'd like," Hall responded, more edge in his voice than he'd like.

"Alright I get it, you don't have to be a dick about it," Williams got up and left him. Once she went around the corner Hall sighed and rubbed his eyes. He pushed away from the table and went to get some rack time before his shift.

**4/6**

The ship shook which woke Hall, he was strapped to a seat in a skiff, the kind of ship used for small supply runs and intra solar system travel. Odierno unstrapped himself from his seat, fell to the floor and half crawled half walked to the cockpit; falling down to all fours every time the skiff shook. After another minute Odierno's voice came over the radio for the Special Forces, "We're taking too much Antiaircraft fire, parachutes, put on your parachutes."

The entire unbuckled and started putting on their parachutes, the lieutenants that were being sent as advisors looked on as the NCO's geared up. Odierno came back and pulled on his parachute as well. He then put on an oxygen mask and hooked up the tubes, all the NCO's followed suit. When they were finished one of the lieutenants asked, "Are there enough of those for everyone?"

Odierno ignored the question, turned to the squad, drew his pistol, and said, "Remember your orders, men, anyone that can identify us."

**5/6**

Hall woke drenched in sweat; he checked the time and found he had two more hours until his shift. He disabled the alarm on his omnitool. He rolled out of bed and collected a uniform to change into; once changed he went to the mess where he found Shepard with a cup of coffee. He poured a cup which he drank down right away and poured a second. Hall took a seat at the table; Shepard looked up from her datapad, "What happened with Ashley?"

"Who?"

"Gunnery Chief Williams, maybe you've met?" Shepard teased.

"I've only ever heard her called her Williams, why do you ask?"

"Williams seemed angry about you brushing her off last night, she said you had been at you whiskey, too."

"I was on my second drink, so I wasn't drunk if that's what you're implying," Hall said defensively, "and I didn't 'brush off' Williams, I was trying to tell her that there's no stories for me to tell."

Shepard sipped her coffee, "look, I'm just trying to help."

"I don't need your help, I'm fine."

"You're not fine but I'm not going to force you to talk about it," Shepard replied with a 'we will talk about this later' tone. She went back to her datapad and ignored that Hall was at the table.

Hall finished his coffee and got up, before he went around the corner towards the elevator, "I need the Mako in working order in four hours, don't start on any major projects," Shepard said.

Hall continued into the elevator, Garrus was already testing the Mako. Hall walked up to him, "Is there anything that needs fixing?"

"Everything appears functional, the shocks are indicating they should be tightened up but from how Shepard drives this thing its best we leave that alone."

"I agree, so there's nothing that needs doing here since Shepard is taking it out in a few hours."

"Did she say where she's taking it?"

"No, I would have thought she would tell you since from what I hear you've been the one that she always takes out on the missions."

Garrus' mandibles flicked, "I suppose that is true but she never tells me where we are going. Besides the last time she brought Wrex with and he never stopped going on about the Genophage."

"I suppose something like the Genophage is bound to wear on someone. If you don't mind I'm going to rebuild my assault rifle with my free time." Hall didn't wait for a response before going over to the lockers and pulling his collapsed rifle out. It unfolded and Hall proceeded into stripping it down.

**6/6**

"You're doing my job now?" Williams asked as she set a rifle down that should could disassemble.

"No, there's nothing to do on the Mako and I like working on my own gear," Hall said as he started assembling the assault rifle after having stripped it and cleaned all the parts, "this way if it breaks I have no one but myself to blame."

"Did it break the last couple times you were out?" Williams asked like he was questioning her work.

"No, they worked fine; I just prefer to work on my own stuff." Hall left it at that. He upped the speed to assembling the weapon. Once complete he put it back in his locker. Hall closed it up and turned around to Shepard getting off the elevator.

She went to the Mako, when Hall got there she turned to him, "You, too."

"Me, too, what?"

"Suit up, wheels on the ground in half an hour and you two are coming with," Shepard gestured to both Garrus and Hall.


	7. Chapter 7

1/1 **A/N trust me, it's long.**

"Let me make sure I got this right, while I was busy you went to Noveria?" Hall asked, strapped into the gunner seat for the Mako.

"While you were on vacation we went to Noveria," Shepard responded.

"Where you killed Matriarch Benezia."

"Yes."

"Who is Liara's mother?"

"Yes."

"Who we're going to pick up now?"

"Yes."

Hall threw his arms in the air in exasperation, "This is gonna go great! I know I'd be super enthused to help someone that just killed my mother!"

"Now that Hall put it like that I think that we may have made a mistake in mission order, Shepard," Garrus said with an even tone.

"It's a shit sandwich," Shepard responded, "we took our bite and hopefully Liara will take hers, too."

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to get more than one bite of that sandwich?" Hall asked no one in particular.

Joker gave the green light and Shepard gunned the Mako out into the open air. Hall opened a pouch that was attached to his belt and took a mouth guard out and put it into his mouth. The Mako continued to fall for another eight seconds before it landed and shook everyone inside, Hall removed the guard and put it back into its pouch.

"What is that?" Garrus asked as he looked at the pouch.

"What's what?" Shepard asked from the driver's seat which didn't afford her a view of Hall and his mouth guard.

"My mouth guard," Hall responded to both of them. "First couple of times out in a combat drop I almost bit my tongue off," Hall added matter-of-factly and then asked, "Why are we so sure this Asari is on Therum?"

"Liara T'Soni is a Prothean expert and Therum has some of the largest ruins …" Shepard was cut off by Joker.

"Commander, we've got some strange readings here," Joker said over the radio, "and by strange I mean off the damn charts! It's about two klicks from the DZ, uploading the coordinates now."

"And, well, that," Shepard added with a laugh before putting the Mako into gear and rolling away from the drop zone.

They hadn't driven more than five seconds before passing one of Therums more notable features, other than being a surface of iron and other metal deposits with silica sand there were standing pools of lava, this prompted Hall to say with a great deal of sarcasm, "Hey Shepard, before we leave can we swing by the immigration offices, I think I might want to buy a house here."

"Nothing says home like silica dust storms and molten rock?" Shepard laughed.

Hall spun the gun around to face behind them. There was nothing to look at, just more metal, more sand, more dust. Shepard drove for a few minutes through the desolate landscape until Garrus suddenly said, "Did anyone else hear that?"

The Mako slowed to a halt, Shepard was squirming in her seat to try to see anything and Hall scanned around them and finally said, "I didn't hear anything."

"Sounded like pulsating, I'm not sure," Garrus said.

Hall spun the gun around and fired the cannon at the target coming over an iron hill, "Geth dropship inbound," he said calmly. Shepard put the Mako into gear and headed fast to where they were going. The dropship drifted overhead and dropped two Armature units in their path before leaving the area in its exhaust. Hall shifted fire from the retreating dropship to the Armatures. A quick burst of machinegun fire cut through the first ones shields and was finished by the cannon. The second one fired a siege pulse which Shepard easily dodged. Hall targeted the second one with the machinegun while the autoloader put the next round into place in the cannon and then he cut it loose which destroyed the second one. "Higgins we just needed one of these," Hall said to himself.

Garrus and Shepard glanced at each other, "What's that Hall?"

"Nothing, all contacts neutralized."

"Are you feeling alright?" Shepard pressed the topic.

"Yes ma'am, let's just get it done."

Thirty seconds later Shepard drove the Mako around a corner and was left facing a series of rocket emplacements. Shepard threw the Mako into reverse as the first volley drifted through where they had just been. "Outside, get your snipers ready," Shepard said as she got out of the driver's seat.

The three climbed out of the Mako and walked over to the turn. "Concentrate your fire, from the far right to the far left until all targets are down. Fan out and only stay in position for five seconds then adjust to ten feet away," Shepard instructed.

"Got it, Shepard," Garrus responded, Hall just gave a thumbs up.

Shepard jogged out and Hall followed for a few seconds then he stopped in the middle of the makeshift road and Shepard went to the far side. Garrus has already fired twice when Hall took his first shot. His target was a rocket emplacement which made for an easy and stationary target. Garrus and Hall took the first one down and Shepard took the first shots on the second emplacement, Shepards double-tap took away the emplacements shields. Garrus changed position to out in the open moments before the first few rockets started peppering his old position. Hall fired on the second emplacement, heavily damaging its armor. Garrus opened up and the Geth rocket turret exploded. Hall moved to another position, rockets exploded at the old position to no particular impact. Garrus and Shepard were well into dispatching the third turret when Hall shot it, causing it to explode. Shepard ran away from where she had been. The three retreated back to the Mako and rolled forward over what was now unprotected ground.

"Knock on the front door or go around?" Shepard asked.

"They're probably expecting a direct assault after that, going around will give us the initiative," Garrus offered. Hall nodded in agreement. Shepard cut the wheel and went down a side path that hadn't been reinforced. Another turret had been placed down this way. The cannon followed by the machinegun and another shot from the cannon blew up the emplacement. Shepard drove around the smoking turret into a platoon of Geth. Rather than rely on guns alone Shepard drove over two of the Geth. Hall put a cannon shot into a group of three Geth which blew apart followed by cutting a fourth Geth across the chest with the machinegun.

"Targets down," Hall said with a smile.

Shepard pulled ahead to another gate, this one there was no way around. Hall pointed the cannon into an open window in the roof of what appeared to be the gatehouse and fired. Shepard left the Mako, Hall and Garrus followed. Shepard went to the left side of the open door and Hall the other, Garrus took position behind Shepard. Hall gave a thumb up, Shepard nodded then Hall counted down from three on his fingers. Shepard burst through the door with her assault rifle to her shoulder she went right, Hall went in next and went left and was greeted by a dead-end and some storage units so he turned around and took a knee incase Shepard needed fire support, Garrus came in last and followed Shepard. Shepard and Garrus went around the storage units; Hall stood up and started to follow when he heard the sound of the gates opening. Shepard came back with Garrus in tow, "There was two, the explosion must have killed them, come on," Shepard said to Hall before she left the building to get into the Mako.

The Mako rolled through the now open gate, the makeshift road curved to the right and the hill on the left gave way to a lake of lava. Almost immediately the Makos shields started absorbing shots from an Armature that had positioned itself on a rise on the far side of the lake. Hall swiveled the guns to face that direction and started shooting the machine gun. Shepard kept on the road, but kept an eye on the Armature. "Hey, stop for two seconds," Hall said once the machinegun overheated. Shepard brought the Mako to a halt and once it finished rocking Hall fired the cannon which made contact with the Armature on the rise and caused it to explode. "First contact down, Shepard," Hall said with satisfaction. Shepard started the Mako and came around the lake before the second Armature was in place to fire. Hall whittled its shields down with the gun before targeting it with the cannon once Shepard had closed the distance.

The Mako easily climbed the now undefended hill and afforded them a good view of beyond. There was a tunnel cut into the mountain of iron that confronted them. The enterence to the tunnel was wide enough for two Makos but a handful of Geth and a Colossus defended it. Now that the Mako was visible to the Geth they open up with a volley of rockets and the Colossus started charging its siege pulse. Hall targeted into a couple of the Geth that fired rockets and discharged the cannon; it caused the Geth to come apart below the abdomen, fluids quickly poured out of them and they became still. "Target the Colossus," Shepard said in a commanding tone as she drove the Mako at the remaining foot troops.

The autoloader made a metallic clunk as it reloaded the cannon. Hall continued to exchange machinegun fire with the Colossus then Hall hit it with the cannon which brought down its shields, it launched its pulse which Shepard easily dodged as she drove the Mako into a pair of Geth which threw them into the hillside where they were crushed by the impact. Hall peppered the Colossus while Shepard backed the Mako over the remaining Geth then accelerated directly at the Colossus. The Mako swept two of the Colossus' feet from under it then threw it as Shepard slammed on the brakes. Hall took the opportunity to blast it again with the cannon before Shepard drove over it again, crushing its neck where it connected to the body.

Shepard drove into the tunnel; it was straight for one thousand meters than turned right. The Mako turned and two Geth in the tunnel fired rockets, Shepard dodged one by cutting the wheel to the left but the other exploded on the shield. She then drove into the pair, one fell under the wheels on the right side and the other was launched down the tunnel trailing armor plates and internal components.

The Mako left the other end of the tunnel to a hastily erected barricade at the foot of the ramp that emerged out of the tunnel. "Brace yourselves, I'm going to push through," Shepard said while putting on speed. The Mako hit the barricade, part of it twisted than broke, and other parts simple collapsed under the weight. Two Geth were crushed in the warped metal and a third was easily destroyed by the cannon.

The Mako advanced through insignificant resistance up to a choke point where large iron boulders had fallen in the way and the Mako might be able to clear but might get crushed in a landslide it might set off. Shepard parked the Mako out of the way and said, "We're close so we might as well walk from here."

Garrus and Hall got out with Shepard following. Their boots leaving prints in the fine layer of silica dust and the whole place reeking of sulfur from the lava Hall said, "Definitely want a house here," with as much sarcastic nostalgia as he could manage.

Shepard continued the joke, "Even with all the Geth?"

"Are you kidding? That's the best feature!" Hall responded with a smile before falling in behind Shepard as she passed between the boulders.

They went up a hill that was just through the boulders which leveled out into an area covered in the other half of the landslide that put the boulders at the foot of the hill. "Shepard, Geth," Garrus said in a quiet tone as he unfolded his sniper rifle. Shepard unfolded hers and Hall went for his assault rifle. Hall got against a boulder that had come to a rest nearby, Shepard and Garrus did the same but they were pointing their rifles further up the path.

Hall was watching Shepard, once she looked at him he gave her a thumbs up and she returned the signal. Hall slipped around the boulder and jogged to the next boulder, as he slid into cover he heard both Shepard and Garrus shoot their rifles and caught a glimpse of a Geths head exploding. Hall looked back but realized where he was he couldn't see Shepard and so he counted off two seconds to himself, plenty of time for rifles to cool before rushing towards the path which lead around the next hill. He pointed his assault rifle at the rocks that were in the mouth of the narrowing path. A Geth head and rifle came up from behind one of the rocks and he put a burst of fire into its head before it could aim at him. He kept firing randomly over the rocks until he was nearly on top of them which is when he tossed a grenade over the cover and slid behind it. The grenade exploded and he went to get up which is when he saw Shepard and Garrus back at the original position, both of them fired and then fired again. Hall got up to a knee so he could see over the rocks, what he saw was another fireteam of Geth coming down the path and they were in the open. Hall opened up with his assault rifle on the middle of the fireteam. The one Hall fired on went down from multiple wounds to the chest, the Geth on it's right started pulling back to cover while the other two advanced while firing at Hall. Hall shifted his fire onto the Geth in the lead. Halls shield lit up in protest against the rounds hitting it when the Geth Hall had in his sights collapsed from cratered wounds to its chest. Hall ducked behind the rocks and heard Garrus and Shepard fire their rifles. He popped back up and saw the remaining Geth were now missing most of their heads or necks and on the ground.

Shepard and Garrus reunited with Hall and the went up the path, it opened up into another field of scattered stones but this one had high ground at the far end with a watchtower. Geth fire erupted as soon as all three were in sight. None of them hesitated to jump back down the path for cover. Once out of the fire Hall spoke, "Sure would be nice to have the Mako up here."

"How would you get it past the landslide and then past all the gigantic boulders and then up this path?" Shepard asked, clearly annoyed.

Hall raised his hands to his chest in mock surrender, "I'm not saying that I have a plan as to how to accomplish all that, just that it would be nice."

"I agree it would be nice but can we come up with a plan that gets us through here?"

"Grenades and assault rifles?"

"You really think a direct assault is the best plan?" Shepard asked.

"I think a direct strike from the Normandy is the best plan, direct assault is my second best."

"We can't pull back to safe distance for a strike, these troops will spread out and this time be completely aware we're coming."

"That's why I skipped to my second plan. Look we'll do it just like basic, first guy out will take the most fire, I volunteer for that and we have Garrus on sniper fire," Hall said.

"What are we talking about and why do I think I won't like it," Garrus chimed in.

"We're talking about a tactical assault over open ground, we should have twice or three times the numbers to do it properly," Shepard said.

"I walk out firing my assault rifle, you and Shepard cover me from here until I get to cover, then while they're focusing on me Shepard runs out to cover beyond where I am, then she covers me while I leapfrog her cover to the next cover while they expect you to come out."

"You'll be exposed and cut-off, if something goes wrong I won't be able to pull you out," Garrus responded with a tone sounding something like a rejection.

"N7's don't fight well until they are cut-off," Hall shot back, "We doing this or are we going to extend this coffee break?"

Shepard sighed and said, "Get into position and no heroics."

Shepard switched to her assault rifle, Hall stepped back a few feet, once Shepard gave him a thumbs up he worked up to a speed walk and started firing his assault rifle at a Geth that had been moving up to scout, pieces of its armor broke off and fluids sprayed as it fell moments before Hall ducked into cover. He stuck his head out and started firing on where Shepard had been covering, Garrus' rifle fired and a Geth fell from the watchtower. Shepard dove behind a rock further up from Hall; he got up and ran past Shepard while she was firing. Hall now could see a Geth hiding behind one of the boulders on the ridge that Shepard had been shooting at; he armed a grenade and threw it behind the rock. The Geth that he saw was flung out in three pieces, legs, left arm, and the rest of the body scattered around from the concussion. Shepard fired on a Geth that was coming down the high ground; Garrus killed the last Geth by putting a round into the base of its neck. Hall stood up from cover and swept his rifle across his field of fire and said, "Clear."

Shepard got up and said, "All clear, let's find out what they were defending." They advanced up the undefended high ground up to what appeared to be some sort of gas processing plant, lots of pipes woven together in a tight pattern, next to a mine shaft.

"Commander, we're not alone," Garrus said, listening and scanning around with his assault rifle. A sniper shot illuminated Shepards shields for a moment and all three of them took cover behind the two crates that had been left at the installation.

"Did anyone see it?" Shepard asked.

"I saw movement," Hall responded.

"I'll draw fire," Shepard said, "You two take it down!" Hall gave a thumb up and Garrus nodded in response. Shepard stepped out from behind her crate. Garrus and Hall both stood up with sniper rifles ready. Shepard ran from the crate she was hiding behind with Garrus to Halls crate. She slid into cover as the Geth fired and missed. Hall returned fire, the Geths head exploded from the shot, a moment after its chest opened up from Garrus shooting as well. Hall put his sniper away and went back to his assault rifle.

"Get ready, drop ship inbound," Shepard said. Moments later the ship was overhead and six Geth and a Colossus dropped from it in front of the ramp up to the entrance of the mineshaft.

The Colossus was still setting up when Hall and Shepard both threw grenades into the Geth troops. Five of the six fell victim to the concussion of the explosions and were torn to pieces or thrown and crushed by the impacts of the landing. Hall fired on the lone troop, it's shields disappeared in a few hits than its chest took a few more before it was leaking fluids and collapsed.

The Colossus fired at Hall; he ducked back behind his cover, narrowly dodging the pulse. The concussion threw Hall into Shepard. She shrugged him off and turned to face him as he pat himself down. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Hall took a few moments to respond after he finished checking himself for wounds, "I'm good, lost my shields though," he responded, a haunted look on his face.

Shepard guessed Hall was thinking about the last stand of the 212 and said, "I need you to focus, we'll be on the other side of this in a minute."

Hall refocused on Shepard, "still shooting, Shepard," He responded with a smile like nothing was wrong. His shields flickered as they recharged. Shepard and Hall both stood up and both started firing at the Colossus with their assault rifles, Garrus joined a moment later. The Colossus started shooting at them with its machinegun but each took cover as the fire swept over their position. The Colossus readied a siege pulse and fired it at Hall and Shepard, both rolled out of the cover, Hall left and Shepard right, and scrambled back in after the explosion. Garrus hit it a few times more and the Colossus lost its shield as his rifle overheated, he set it down against the crate to cool and pulled out his sniper rifle. Hall and Shepard both pulled out grenades and threw them at the Colossus, the explosions went off and damaged its hardened plates but the Colossus was still operational. It returned fire with the machinegun. Shepard and Hall both stayed behind cover as the rounds hit the crate followed by a siege pulse, the explosion against the crate caused it to slide a couple feet which sent both Hall and Shepard sprawling. Both came up again and lobbed grenades once more, this time the explosions cracked and broke off the hardened plates exposing the moving parts. The machinegun returned to shooting at them as the Colossus lost track of Garrus it paid for that mistake when he put two shots into the knee joints for its front legs. It toppled forward and Hall rushed out to grab onto the head which was still moving to try to fire one last pulse. Hall bent it backward so all it saw was sky and wouldn't be able to use to pulse on anyone. Shepard moved to its flank and fired a few bursts into its body, finishing the critical damage that Garrus had started.

Hall let the head slump to the ground, Garrus collected his assault rifle which had cooled off and Shepard started up the ramp to the mineshaft. They regrouped at the entrance and took the moment to relax.

"If we find the Asari in here she probably won't be happy to see us one way or the other," Hall said.

"It's us or the Geth," Shepard offered but she knew that position was weak.

"If she is in a position to be reasoned with she will see the true enemy is Saren," Garrus said.

"I'd still get furious at whoever killed my mother for whatever the reason," Hall shot back.

"I hope she doesn't," Shepard said, opening the door to the mineshaft, "Let's go get this over with."

They all advance down the mineshaft; everything was well lit from a previously installed lighting system. There was a little condensation that made everything a little damp. Half way down Hall lost his footing and fell off balance; he caught himself against the wall and stood back up, the moment's distraction causing the other two to take their eyes off the end of the tunnel. "Hey," Hall whispered, "Did you see that?"

"You nearly fall on your ass?" Shepard jokingly asked, "No, totally missed it."

"At the end of the tunnel, I saw movement."

"I have been hearing footfalls that don't sound like echoes," Garrus added.

"We should go say hello," Shepard said bringing her assault rifle up to her shoulder. They picked up the pace from a walk to just short of a jog since none of them wanted to get into a firefight in the tunnel with no cover. Garrus' sniper fired which caught a Geth in the shoulder; its body twisted and fell out where the other two had shots. Hall and Shepard finished the Geth off with a couple quick bursts which left the Geth covered in holes and leaking fluids. Once it died the trio ran the remaining distance. Hall saw a Geth on the walkway below them and started firing on it and Shepard fired on a Geth that had crept up on the tunnel and Garrus shot and killed a Geth that was coming up the ramp.

"Targets down, Commander," Garrus said and Hall responded in the affirmative.

Shepard walked down the ramp to the elevator with Garrus and Hall following. Shepard pushed the button on the elevator and it went down since it was already as high as it would go. The elevator descended three hundred meters then ground to a halt about a meter above the walkway which appeared to have collapsed onto the walkway below it. Shepard jumped from the elevator onto the walkway; it groaned under the added weight and settled the rest of the way onto the lower walkway. Shepard tried shaking the walkway but it seemed stable, she waved the other two down. Hall jumped and then Garrus

"Hello, can anyone hear me out there?" a feminine voice called from beyond a shield in the Prothean ruin that was exposed from the rock which had the walkway built up on it.

Shepard walked up to the shield and spoke to a blue skinned Asari that was trapped in some kind of security bubble inside the shielded area, "Dr. T'Soni I presume?"

"Oh thank the Goddess I didn't think anyone would come looking for me!" T'Soni said, "I'm trapped in here and I need help!"

"Do you have any idea how to get you out?" Shepard asked.

"I'm afraid I have no idea, I was inside the ruins when the Geth came so I activated the shields since I knew it would keep them out but in my haste I must have hit something I shouldn't have."

Shepard cut off Liara before she went on and asked, "Okay, how does that help get you out?"

"It … it doesn't." T'Soni responded, "I'm afraid I have no idea but you'll need to find some way around the shield curtain."

"Okay, we'll find some way to help you." Shepard turned from the shield and rejoined Garrus and Hall.

"You didn't mention Benezia," Garrus pointed out.

"I don't see a need to push that particular issue until after we're out of these ruins, come on, let's find some way in there."

The platform connected to a ramp which went down to the floor of the mine. Shepard led the way down and when she turned away from the ruins facing out on the large room she suddenly removed the assault rifle from her back and took a knee, "Hall, assault rifle, Garrus, sniper, I see at least three Geth, there's probably more."

Hall and Garrus unfolded the appropriate weapons and took up position, Hall on Shepards right and Garrus behind them. They walked in squatting positions up to an outcrop of rock. Garrus crawled up the rock and almost immediately fired. Rounds started grazing off the rock or flying harmlessly overhead. Hall and Shepard both wordlessly charged out from behind the rock and sprayed their assault rifles in the general direction of Geth fire which drew the shots off of Garrus and at them. Hall and Shepard ducked behind different crates that had been left by miners Garrus fired a couple more times while Hall and Shepard argued through hand signals about who should assault the Geth and who should cover. Shepard finally got Hall to agree to cover her with his sniper then to follow her in using his assault rifle.

Hall started firing as soon as his sniper unfolded. He saw a Geths head explode from Garrus firing his rifle and then Hall took another down with his rifle by shooting it at the base of its neck. He scanned and saw another Geth look out from cover, he put a round through its head and it fell. Garrus and Hall had the Geth pretty well pinned down when Shepard made it past all the crates. Shepard flanked a Geth and when it got up to return fire to Shepard both Hall and Garrus shot it in the chest. That Geth fell over backwards and Shepard shot it a few more times the moved up to the next couple of Geth. Hall put away his sniper rifle and pulled out his assault rifle while he jogged over to join Shepard.

A Geth sniper shot its rifle from where it had been hiding; the round bounced harmlessly off Halls shield, Garrus returned its fire. "It's down," Garrus voice came over the radio.

Hall got up to Shepard as she was flanking the last Geth. She fired at it behind its cover and when it stood Hall shot the arm holding the assault rifle off and Shepard put a few rounds into its chest. It collapsed across the crate it had been hiding behind. Hall put a few rounds into its head to be sure.

Hall turned to Shepard and asked, "Any ideas?"

"Yeah, I saw a mining laser on the way in, we should see if it is online," She said before going back by Garrus who had already climbed off the rock.

Shepard started trying buttons on the interface for the laser and took a couple of minutes before it came thundering to life, it cut a hole in the rock and brought down one of the shields protecting the inside of the Prothean ruin. They walked down the rough cut ramp from the laser and into the ruin. Now that he was inside Hall could see that it must have been a tower at some point and that they were not on the ground floor. Shepard fumbled through working the interface for what seemed to be an elevator in the center of the tower, just the space was large enough for two Makos and a company of soldiers with room to spread out. Eventually the elevator lifed up to where Liara was in the security bubble, she twisted to her left to see them and once she knew it wasn't Geth a look of relief came across her face.

Once they came close Liara asked, "How did you get past the security field?"

"Blasted through using a mining laser," Shepard answered calmly, "Now how do we get out of there?"

"The button on that console should deactivate it," Shepard made a face at how easily the answer came and Liara saw it so she offered an explanation, "I've been in this field for what seems like days, I've had some time to study my surroundings." Shepard pressed the button and the orb around Liara dissipated which caused her to fall to her knees from not being held up anymore. She pushed herself back up and said, "Thank you … I'm sorry I didn't catch your name from my excitement about being rescued."

"I'm Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy and this is Sergeant Hall and Garrus Vakarian. We're on an important mission and we were hoping to have your help as a Prothean expert."

"Of course I would be more then glad to …" Liara looked around as the ruin shook for a moment, "perhaps the laser triggered a seismic event."

"We should get out of here, ideas Doctor?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, this back here is an elevator that should take us to the top of the ruin."

Liara deftly worked the controls for the platform and it rose to the top floor just as the power for the shields gave out. A Krogan with four Geth walked onto the platform of the elevator. Shepard made a hand motion at Hall to get him to lower his rifle. The Krogan challenged them by saying, "Surrender, or don't … that would be more fun!"

"Perhaps you didn't notice this ruin is collapsing?" Shepard asked.

"Exciting, isn't it?" The Krogan responded.

Hall had enough and threw the grenade he had removed from his bag and it detonated by two of the Geth sending them to pieces where they stood. While that happened Hall started firing his assault rifle and charging at the Krogan. Hall dropped his assault rifle to grab onto the Krogans shotgun. Shepard and Garrus both pulled their assault rifles out and dropped the remaining two Geth before pointing their rifles at the Krogan. The Krogan tried to wrestle the shotgun out of Hall's hands but only managed in whipping Hall around. Finally the Krogan pulled his knife and slammed it through Halls shield into his side which caused Hall to fall off the shotgun to the ground but gave Shepard and Garrus a clear line of fire. Both fired on the Krogan until their rifles overheated, this left the Krogan covered in craters from the impacts.

Hall was face down on the ground, Shepard crouched down and rolled him over which prompted a quick response from Hall, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"That was really stupid of you," Shepard said as she removed the knife and applied medigel to the wound.

"I was going for incredibly brave, do you think we can talk about this later?"

Shepard laughed and said, "Yeah." The gel had already closed the wound so she pulled him to his feet. The ruins started violently shaking and rocks started breaking loose in the tunnel leading out. Shepard activated the radio and said into it, "Joker, I need a pick-up ASAP!"

"En route to your position, ETA five minutes," Joker responded.

"I'm going to be so pissed off if I die because of a bunch of rocks after I survived a fist-fight with a Krogan," Hall quipped.

Shepard looked at the falling rocks and then said to the others, "Move, we have to get out now!"

Liara, Garrus and Hall sprinted along the platform with rocks bouncing off their shields and went up the shaft, Hall paused for a moment to see where Shepard was and she was right behind him. She saw him stop and shouted at him "Keep moving!" Hall got back to it and ran up the shaft. Liara opened the door and Garrus dragged her outside when it looked like she was stopping for a breather. Once outside Hall ran down the ramp to where they had killed the Colossus earlier.

Shepard looked around at how the ground was beginning to break up and issued an order to get back to the Mako. The group ran down the hill past the many Geth they had cut down to get to the tunnel and encountered nothing they hadn't left behind them. Either there were no more Geth or the remaining Geth had vacated the area. Fortunately once on the surface the shaking became less pronounced. They went between the boulders at the bottom of the hill and climbed into the Mako. Shepard turned it on and headed back to the tunnels they drove away from the hill and found a spot wide enough for the Normandy to set down.

While they waited the last minute off they heard a loud explosion from where they came from and a large cloud of dust went up into the sky. The Normandy was descending fast and Jokers voice came over the radio, "Once I set down be quick about getting on board, the ruins just turned into a volcano."

Seconds after he finished the Normandy set down in front of them and Shepard wasted no time as Joker asked. Once on board she radioed Joker back, "We're onboard, get us out of here!" The doors hadn't started closing once Joker was already in the air and only just finished closing when they were a kilometer above the surface.


	8. Chapter 8

**1/4**

"Jesus Hall, what did you do?" Williams had three fingers poking through the space between plates on Halls chest piece; he had started pulling off arms and armor to store as soon as they had been out of the atmosphere.

Hall glanced up from removing the plates attached to his legs, "Picked a fistfight with a Krogan, it didn't end well for him."

"Looks like it almost didn't end well for you."

"What can I say, I love medigel."

"One of these times you'll get shot somewhere that can't be replaced," Williams responded, setting the armor down.

"Won't that be fun?"

"It won't, I want you to make it through this," Williams responded.

Hall stowed his now completely removed armor into his locker along with his weapons, "I hope you make it through this, too," Hall said, "I only got another twenty minutes before debrief, I need to hit the showers and wash this off." Hall gestured at the dried blood around the scar from the stab wound.

**2/4**

Hall entered the debriefing room right on time; everyone else had already gathered and was sitting. He took the open seat. Hall couldn't help but stare at Liara because he knew this conversation might determine if she was a guest or a prisoner. She must have felt the tension about her so she spoke first.

"I want to thank you for saving me. The Geth would have discovered a way past that barrier eventually."

"We were glad to help," Shepard responded, "we were hoping that you could help us, though."

"Of course!" Liara exclaimed, "A favor for a favor."

"We're trying to find a Prothean artifact called 'The Conduit."

Liaras brow gathered as she thought for a moment, "I've only heard of it and that it was somehow linked to the Prothean extinction. Why do you need to find it?"

"Saren Arterius is looking for it and he is going to use it to bring back the Reapers, an ancient AI race that wiped out the Protheans," Shepard responded.

"What? How did you … Where did you get your information?" Liara asked.

"I saw it in a vision burned into my mind by a damaged Prothean beacon found on Eden Prime. I saw synthetics killing millions of people."

"Wait, you said Saren, do you think Benezia is involved?"

Shepard sighed, clearly not looking forward to how this might go, "We know Benezia is involved, we encountered her on Noveria where she had found the coordinates for the Mu Relay. She had turned armed guards on us and was working with Geth. Unfortunately in the firefight Benezia died, before the end she turned from Saren." Shepard looked at Liara with compassion, "I'm sorry, your mother is dead."

"Benezia is dead," Liara said with a certain amount of disbelief, "I had always hoped that she and I could make up, that we could work past our differences … I suppose that does not matter now."

"We're still no closer to finding the conduit," Wrex grumbled.

"I disagree with bringing it up now but Wrex is right, we're still no closer to finding the conduit," Alenko said, "has the cipher still turned up nothing?"

"No, I still haven't been able to work through it nor has it brought much clarity to the vision," Shepard responded.

"I am sorry, what is the cipher?" Liara asked after everyone had almost forgotten about her.

"The cipher is knowledge of Protheans gained from the Thorian which was a creature many millennia old, an Asari that had joined with the Thorian joined with me to give it to me," Shepard responded.

"Commander, perhaps I could join with you to see the vision and the cipher, I have studied the Protheans a great deal and might see something you might miss."

"Okay, it can't possibly hurt."

Liara stood and walked to Shepard, she reached out an arm to Shepards head, "Commander, reach out to the strands that bind us, embrace eternity!" Liaras eyes turned black and she pressed her hand against the Commanders head.

Hall looked on as they stood there for a minute then once he realized nothing really interesting was happening he turned to Williams who also was getting bored. He stuck his tongue out at her and she had to stifle a laugh which drew everyones attention to her, everyone except Shepard and Liara.

"The vision … I was not expecting it to be so fast, so intense," Liara said as she broke contact from Shepard.

"Did you see anything?" Alenko asked.

"Oh, there's so much …" Liara paused, "I'm sorry, I need time to sort through the vision, is there somewhere I can stay?"

"You want to come with us?" Shepard asked with a measure of surprise in her voice.

"Benezias choices are not my own and here I might be able to help undo some of what she did before it is too late," Liara looked Shepard in the eye and continued with confidence, "besides you will need an expert on the Prothean extinction which is my area of focus."

"Go see Dr. Chakwas and we'll find somewhere to put you afterwards, the rest of you," Shepard looked away from Liara, "dismissed."

Wrex got up from his chair and locked his eyes on Hall as he walked over to him, "You took on a krogan in hand-to-hand?"

"Just for a few seconds," Hall responded, "it seemed the best way to keep him distracted at the time."

"Most humans avoid getting that close to Krogan," Wrex said thoughtfully, "Either you're very brave or very stupid, time will tell which." He turned and left through the door, Hall stared at him totally dumbstruck as Wrex left.

"I think you impressed him," Shepard said, "now go, I need to file this report with the council."

**3/4**

Hall exited the elevator, he'd gone and finished a shift of repairing the Mako, and Shepard called out to him. Hall walked over to Shepard, she said, "I need to talk to you, in private." She turned and he followed her into her quarters. She sat and he took the other seat by her desk. "Hall, what's going on?" She asked with a great deal of concern in her voice.

"What do you mean?"

"You're talking to people that aren't there and you haven't been to see Chakwas for the stab wound. I suspect if ask around I'll find some people that have seen you doing the thousand yard stare."

"What are you getting at?" Hall asked with a frown.

"If you're breaking I want you to get help before you're broken."

"I'm fine, Shepard."

"I really want to believe that but I don't. If I have to order you to the Doctor I also have to take you off of operational status, if you see the Doctor on your own maybe this can get sorted and that's the end."

"Are you threatening me with desk duty?" Hall asked.

"I'm just telling you what the options on the table are so that you aren't surprised with the outcome if you keep telling me you're fine when I know you're not."

Hall was suspicious of Shepards motives so he asked, "What's this really about?"

"This is about what's best for you, about you not being behind me or anybody else with a sniper rifle if you end up snapping." Hall stared at Shepard blankly for about a minute, "Dismissed, Hall." Hall stood up and left the room. He went and found his rack to get some sleep.

**4/4**

The crack of rifle and pistol fire filled the small space of the skiff as the N7 shot all the officers still strapped into their seats. The skiff jerked hard to the left when Odierno shot the pilot. Now that everyone was in their gear the radio was online, "Outside, now." Odierno ordered. The door on the side of the skiff opened which pulled the skiff toward that side from the sudden drag on that side. The N7 lined up at the door and all stated their readiness over the radio and Odierno shouted to go. They all piled out one after the other. Hall was well into a free fall when Odierno threw himself out of the skiff.


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N Shamelessly my shortest chapter yet)**

**1/3**

The skiff took two direct hits, one that started the interior on fire and a second that shattered the engines. It tumbled end over end trailing smoke until it crashed into the ground with a massive explosion. Hall watched it all happen as he dangled from the canopy of his parachute. Once the skiff was destroyed it was less than a minute before he and the N7 were on the ground. Hall striped off the parachute then whistled to get the platoons attention. They rallied around him and checked that they were all there. Odierno joined them as they sounded off that all were present.

"Let's eliminate the AA threat before leaving the area. They'll be sending troops out so it will be weakly garrisoned."

The platoon exchanged looks before Hall spoke what was on all their minds, "Sir, if we eliminate the AA threat we'll be giving away that something survived from that skiff."

Odierno looked at Hall, "We. Are. Eliminating. The AA threat and that is an order." More looks were exchanged but the N7 got on their feet and moved towards where the fire had been coming from.

They worked their way through an industrial park which was bathed in predawn light. Hall took his squad up an exterior staircase to get on top of an assembly plant. They flattened out on the roof and set up their snipers. Hall spoke into the radio to describe the threat, "One patrol of two on foot, see control room but not targets inside. Advise my team eliminate the patrol, two and three storm the control."

"Roger," the other squad leaders replied in turn. A few seconds later the other two teams indicated they were ready. Hall fired his rifle and one of the Batarians fell.

Hall woke up damp from sweat in a sleeper pod. He checked the time and found that he had four hours before his shift, and that he had three hours before his alarm was supposed to go off. He grumbled about the hour but opened the pod anyway and went for the showers.

**2/3**

Dr. Chakwas entered the medical center; Hall was sitting in a chair waiting for her arrival, "Sergeant Hall, How are you feeling?" Dr. Chakwas asked even though the lack of sleep was showing on Halls face.

"I'm not sleeping well, ma'am," Hall answered simply.

"How many stimulants do you have in a day? These can be coffee, the stim pills they put into the MREs and thinks like that."

"I have two cups and no pills for a few days or anything else."

"Hmm, when do you have the coffee?"

"Right when I get up, I had them before I came in."

"If you have them that early they are likely already out of your system by the time you go to bed," Chakwas said thoughtfully, she pulled up his files, "You have a synthetic lung and heart, are they giving you any trouble?"

"No trouble at all."

"How long has it been since you've had a full night's sleep?"

"About two weeks, shortly after transferring onto this boat."

Chakwas looked at Hall and said, "I need to take some scans, would you mind getting onto this bed?" She indicated the bed next to her desk. Hall wordlessly got onto the bed; Chakwas initiated a full scan before sitting down.

After a few quiet minutes as the scanner slowly scanned his body she spoke, "Where were you assigned before the Normandy?"

"Is that a medical question?" Hall responded.

"I'm sure I could look it up but I just want to have a conversation, most days I complete shifts without seeing anyone."

"Eden Prime," Hall answered.

"With the 212, I'm sorry," Chakwas responded sounding genuine, "do you think about what happened?"

"All the time, if we just had a little better equipment we could've walked out of that ambush with no problem, I hear people complain about the Mako all the time but if we had just had that 200 people would've gone home with their hopes and dreams, not in a pine box with a flag."

"Do you ever think about other assignments you had?"

"I do when I'm not thinking about the 212."

"Were they as much of a tragedy as the 212?"

"Not all of them," Hall answered.

"You dream about them," Chakwas said as a statement, not a question.

"I do," he said with a sigh.

"Would you tell me about them?"

Hall turned his head so he could see Chakwas, after a moment's thought he finally nodded.

**3/3**

Hall exited the med bay to be greeted by Shepard who was heading into the med bay, "Hall, are you fit?"

"As far as I know, Chakwas told me to come back after my shift so she could have some time with my scans."

"Okay, keep you gear together because we're heading to Virmire."

"Is the shit going to get thick?" Hall asked.

"Doesn't it everywhere we go?"


End file.
